


You Satisfy My Hunger

by AliceAce14



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: (Technically not but people are eaten is the point), Alien Gender/Sexuality, Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Belly Kink, Belly Rubs, Biting, Blood, Cannibalism, Enemas, F/M, Gore, Inflation, M/M, Multi, Oral Sex, Other, Oviposition, Stuffing, This is cute I swear, Trying to give a sex ed talk to an alien, Weight Gain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-14
Updated: 2019-08-14
Packaged: 2020-09-01 01:44:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 43,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20250124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AliceAce14/pseuds/AliceAce14
Summary: In the summer of 1929, Bucky finds a merperson on the rocky shore. He and Steve become fast friends and then more as they negotiate a life from two worlds.





	You Satisfy My Hunger

**Author's Note:**

> Y'all saw the tags and clicked, you know what's up. This is for you kinky people like myself, and everyone who commented on my other two works wanting more <3

It was the summer of 1929. Bucky was twelve and relishing the fact that his parents were now letting him go down to the shore by himself. He liked to hang out in a particularly rocky area that almost no one else ever came to. He was climbing over a rock when he saw it. Some sort of huge thing had washed up on a large, flat rock. As Bucky got closer he realized with a shock that it wasn’t an animal at all it was… a mermaid. An honest to God mermaid! She was lying face down on the rock with half of her tail in the water. Was she dead? As Bucky slowly approached he saw that she was breathing. She also had short hair like a boy. Bucky poked her shoulder but she didn’t respond. Was she hurt? Bucky didn’t see any injuries. Slowly and carefully Bucky flipped her over. Oh! It was a boy mermaid. A merboy? A merman, maybe? Merman sounded better. Bucky didn’t know there were mermen but he guessed there would have to be.

The merman had blonde hair and masculine features, a strong jawline and nose. He was also very small and thin. Bucky could see all of his ribs. He wondered if all merpeople were small or if it was just this one. His skin was pale and it had a different texture than a human, it was really smooth and soft like gelatin or a pair of silk stockings he’d touched one time in the store. He didn’t have nipples or a bellybutton, it was wild. His hands had webbing in between them, thin and slightly see-through. His tail was fish-like and covered in beautiful, jeweled blue scales of various shades from a turquoise to a deep sapphire color. The ones on the underside of him were lighter, sky blue, silver and white. He was beautiful.

Bucky decided to move him somewhere safe and hope he would wake up. He gently picked up the merman bridal-style, he was only about as heavy as his ten-year-old sister Becca, and carried him to a large tide pool in between the rocks. The large, flat rock that he’d found the merman on blocked the pool off from the ocean. He held the merman gently, debating about what he should do. He was breathing air but what if he needed to be underwater? But what if he was like a dolphin and couldn’t breathe underwater? Bucky decided not to risk it and kept his head above the water. The merman was mostly floating in the water with Bucky just barely supporting him and keeping him afloat. Bucky was standing on a rock on the side of the pool in water about up to his chest. Bucky started humming, a habit he’d developed by helping rock his little sisters to sleep. Bucky didn’t know what he’d do if the merman didn’t wake up. He just hoped he did.

Bucky sort of slipped into the same state he did with his sisters, his standing there softly humming and rocking the merman side to side a bit in the water, staring at nothing. When he glanced down at the merman he met a pair of brilliant blue eyes. Bucky froze and they just looked at each other for a second.

“Uh. Hi,” Bucky ventured. “Can you understand me?”

The merman nodded. Holy crap.

“Uh, I found you passed out on that rock over there, are you ok?”

_I’m fine, _the merman… said? His mouth didn’t move. How had Bucky heard him?

“How are you talking without moving your mouth?”

_I speak mind-to-mind. I’m not actually speaking your language, I’m just saying it and then you hear it in a way you understand._

“Woah. That’s amazing.”

They both seemed to realize at that moment that Bucky was still holding him. With a flick of his tail the merman was sitting on a rock a few feet away. Wow, he moved fast. The merman was looking at him wide-eyed, like he was afraid. Bucky didn’t want him to be afraid.

“So, what’s your name?”

The merman seemed hesitant, but he replied, _Our names don’t really translate, but it’s-_ Bucky was hit with an impression of sunshine, a feeling he could only quantify as determination, and warmth in his chest that felt like… kindness. Bucky blinked.

“Your name is… sunshine-determination-kindness?”

The merman grimaced, bearing his teeth. Bucky noticed that they were sharp like a sharks’. _Ugh, it sounds awful when you say it like that._

“Well, I’m sorry that your name can only be properly conveyed through interpretive dance,” Bucky said indignantly. The merman snorted,

_Honestly I’d really like to see you try that._

Bucky grinned and moved over to the flat rock. Thinking for a second, he made a large sweeping gesture with his right hand, arcing it overhead like the sun, then he narrowed his eyes and put up his fists in a defensive guard. He thought for another second before he crossed his hands over his chest, palms in, before extending his arms and opening them in a ‘giving’ motion. He put his hands on his hips and looked at the merman triumphantly.

“There.”

The merman made a sort of chittering sound that Bucky was pretty sure was him laughing and Bucky deflated a little.

_No! No, I loved it, it was perfect, I’m just laughing because I can’t believe you actually managed to do it, _the merman said. Bucky’s ridiculous display seemed to have calmed him down. He had probably figured that clearly anyone who would do something that silly wasn’t a threat.

“Well, I’m glad you liked it but I’m not doing that every time I wanna say your name, it’s ridiculous,” Bucky said as he sat back down in the pool.

_Well give me a human name then._

Bucky looked at him critically, “Steve,” he decided.

_Steve?_

“Yeah. You look like a Steve. You like it?”

_I do._

Bucky grinned at him, “Great. Can I ask you some questions? I have like ten thousand of ‘em. I promise I won’t tell anyone.”

Steve eyed him critically. _Why did you help me?_

Bucky was confused. “What was I gonna do, leave you there?”

_Humans used to eat us, sometimes._

“Ugh, why would they do that?”

_There are legends, ridiculous ones, that the flesh of one of our kind would bring you immortality. Now we worry they might want to study us, cut us open to see how we work._

“Weird. Well, I certainly am not gonna eat you or cut you open or anything, I promise. I’m just really curious, you know?”

_I understand. I admit I’m curious about humans as well, so we can go back and forth. You can ask first._

“Yeah, sure. Ok, so I can see you breathe air but can you breathe underwater, too?”

Steve nodded and ducked under the water, making a big show of taking a big breath. Bucky saw small slits on his ribs, gills he guessed, flare open slightly when he exhaled. He came up again with a smile.

_How do those lights you have work? When it’s night the whole city is still lit up but it’s not fire._

“Oh, man, you gave me a hard one. Ok, they run on electricity, which is… have you ever seen lightning?”

Steve nodded.

“Ok, it’s like that, but less uncontrolled. It comes in wires made of metal and when it passes through the bulb, the clear glass part, the electricity causes it to heat up and make light. I think there might also be some chemicals involved that are like in the bulb? I’m not real sure, sorry.”

_It’s fine, that was good enough for me._

“Ok, so, I assume that there are more merpeople than just you. Do you guys have like underwater cities or like live in caves or what?”

_They live in the deeper parts. They don’t build like you humans so they do live in caves, sometimes. But mostly they move around in large groups_

“I notice you said ‘they’.”

_Yes. My mom and I… we were banished. We are alone. I don’t want to talk about why._

“I’m sorry.”

_So, my turn._

They went on like that for hours until Bucky had to go home. Steve promised to meet him there the next day, and he did. Steve became his secret friend, they met every day that summer. His parents asked him where he would go and he would reply various places, occasionally telling the truth so as not to be suspicious. His parents knew he loved the shore. He and Steve talked about human things and merman things but they also told stories and played.

Bucky considered himself like some sort of scientist that was learning about Steve and his culture, Bucky really liked science. They gave each other small trinkets from their worlds, little things to them but immensely cool to the other. Bucky got shells and bits of coral while Steve got basically anything Bucky could find that looked like it wouldn’t fall apart underwater. He gave Steve a couple of his tin soldiers, a glass Coke bottle, a bullet he found under his dad’s bed, stuff like that. Some of the metal things rusted but Steve still thought they were cool.

He also taught Steve to read, which Steve learned pretty quickly since he could sort of pick up certain things from Bucky’s mind, it was how he understood how Bucky spoke. He brought Steve books which he would read carefully after drying himself off as best he could. Then he would haul himself onto a dry rock and read them while Bucky did the same. But eventually it got cold and Steve had to go south or freeze to death. Bucky promised he would be there when Steve got back.

Once it started getting warm again Bucky placed a large rock onto the flat rock where they’d met and checked it every day. Once the rock disappeared that was their signal that Steve was back and would meet him the next day. School was almost out by the time the rock moved and Bucky was giddy with excitement to see his friend again.

When he got to the rock, though, Steve was lying on his side on the rock. Bucky knew immediately something was wrong. He knelt beside Steve,

“Hey, hey, what’s the matter?”

_It’s my mom Buck. She got sick while we were down there and… she’s gone._

“Oh, Stevie, I’m so sorry, come here,” he said, gathering Steve into his arms. Steve cried on his shoulder for nearly an hour.

_What am I gonna do, Buck? I’m all alone._

“You got me Stevie. You’ve always got me.”

_But what about when you have to leave to go home? What about when it’s winter and I have to go to the gulf all by myself? You can’t come with me then._

“I would if I could Stevie.”

_Really?_

“I swear if I could turn into a merperson right now I would. I’d miss my family but… you’re the one I wanna spend the rest of my life with. I’m with you till the end of the line, Steve. I love you.”

_I love you too Buck. I wouldn’t ask you to turn into a merperson, I’d much rather I become a human. There’s nothing left for me in the ocean._

That summer Steve gave him his merman name, the steady sound of a beating heart, a hunger for many different things, and the ocean, vast and deep. Bucky was overjoyed and made an interpretive dance for his name, too, which cracked Steve up, the first really good laugh he’d been able to give his friend since he came back.

They continued in this pattern until things changed in the summer of 1933, and Bucky was 16. One day Steve came to their spot but he didn’t enter the pool, staying out in the deeper water. He propped his arms up on that side of the flat rock, which had a sort of cliff on the front, crossing them casually.

_I think I’ll stay over here if that’s alright Buck_.

“What’s wrong, Stevie?”

_It’s… I’m… ugh, it’s embarrassing!_

“C’mon, Steve, I won’t laugh at you, promise.”

_Well I’m… maturing. Becoming an adult. I am experiencing… changes…_

“Oh, that’s nothing to be embarrassed about, Stevie, I’m doing that too. My momma sat me down and gave me ‘the talk’.”

_The talk?_

“You know about sex and stuff. So, you’re experiencing changes huh? What sort?”

_I’m… can you go first? I’m certain that mine are a bit more… dramatic than yours. I’m pretty sure you’ll think it’s really weird._

“You’re already really weird Stevie,” Bucky said with a grin. Steve splashed water on him and Bucky chuckled, “Ok, ok, I’ll go first. So you’ve probably noticed that I’m starting to get hair in a lot of places, see?” Bucky said, lifting up his arm, revealing a patch of dark hair. He pretty much always had his shirt off hanging out with Steve. “It’s also gonna grow on my chest and on my belly, maybe, because my dad has a lot of hair there. I’m also getting it, uh, down here,” he said, making a vague motion toward his crotch, “And on my legs, too.”

_That’s neat but also kinda gross. I don’t get hair anywhere but my head. And even that is not like yours._

Bucky remembered Steve saying something like how his hair was more like a cat whisker, he could like sense water currents and temperature, stuff like that. It felt different from Bucky’s hair, it was softer and also he could kind of move it a little underwater, it was a little weird.

“I know, right? I’ll also start to get it on my face but I’ll probably shave that off, I don’t want a beard.”

_Good. I like being able to see your face. Tell me about… about the talk your mom gave you. How that works for humans. Then I’ll tell you about me._

“Ok, sure.” Bucky tried to adopt a very professional and business-like manner. Like he was a scientist explaining this or something. “So, I’m a male and that means that I have a penis, which is sort of a stick shaped organ,” he held up a finger on his right hand, “While females have a vagina, which is kind of like a hole,” he held up his left hand in an ‘ok’ sign. “And in order to have sex the man puts his penis in her vagina,” he made the appropriate obscene gesture a couple times before dropping his hands. “And then a baby grows inside the female.”

_How?_

“Ok, I learned about this from my uncle, who’s a doctor. The males have sperm, which are these tiny things, smaller than you can see, and they shoot into the female during sex. The female has eggs which are also really tiny and one sperm and one egg combine to make a baby. It grows a lot bigger, a baby is like this big when it’s born,” Bucky made several vague hand gestures indicating the approximate size of a newborn.

_Huh. And that’s it? You can do that at any time?_

“Pretty much.”

_Ok, so you guys are pretty much like sharks and dolphins._

“Yeah, I guess. Aren’t sharks fish? I thought they laid eggs…?”

_No, I totally saw a shark give birth once, from a safe distance, a very tiny shark came out._

“Neat. Ok, now you.”

_Well, the way we do it is… pretty different. It’s not like anything on this planet, probably because we’re not from this planet, but-_

“Woah, wait, back up. You’re not from this planet?”

_Well _I _am but my species is originally from another world. We came here like a few thousand years ago or something. Can I get back to my point now?_

“Sorry, but you sort of dropped a bomb on me there. We’ll come back to that later. Go on.”

_Anyway, so we have males and females like you do, but we have a third gender. We also lay eggs, but ours are not small, they’re about this size._ He indicated the size of a golf ball with his fingers._ The females carry the eggs and lay them and the males fertilize them like humans._

“So what does the third one do?”

_The third one is called… I guess ‘makers’ is a good word. The makers make the eggs and deposit them in the female, then the male comes and fertilizes them. We can’t do it all the time though. The makers have cycles in which they make the eggs. When they happen is dependent on the population of the nearby area. The lower the population the more makers will start their cycle. I am a maker._

“Oh, I get it, so you started your cycle, huh?”

_Yes, _Steve said. He hesitated for a moment before heaving himself out of the water to sit on the rock with Bucky. He was looking down, embarrassed. Bucky inspected him for whatever physical change he was so embarrassed about. He saw it pretty quickly. Steve’s belly, usually flat, was distinctly larger and more rounded. At the height, about where Steve’s bellybutton would be if he had one, it stuck out maybe six or seven inches from the rest of his body.

“Oh. Wow. So that’s why you weren’t around yesterday, huh?”

_The growing part of the cycle lasts eight days, and today is the fourth day of mine._

“Oh, so you’ve still got a ways to go then. Does it hurt?”

_No, I just feel… tight. Strained._

“Well, I would think so. Can I…?” Bucky hesitantly reached out a hand. Steve scooted closer to him, flopping down on his back in front of Bucky, careful not to smash the fin on his back. Hesitantly Bucky trailed his hand across Steve’s swollen belly. Steve sighed and relaxed into the rock.

“Huh, does that feel nice?”

_Yeah. It’s relaxing. You don’t have to be quite so gentle, you won’t hurt me._

Bucky massaged a little more firmly and Steve closed his eyes, looking totally relaxed. Bucky felt a sense of contentment coming from Steve and he heard a low humming sound in his mind. Steve’s belly was pretty firm but it had some give to it. Bucky found that he was pretty relaxed as well, he liked that he could make Steve feel better.

“I gotta say I think this is pretty impressive.”

_Impressive? Really?_

“Yeah, you did all this in four days, I’m impressed.”

_Well, I mean, it’s really not that different from what you’re doing, I guess. It’s not like I’m trying to do it or anything, I’m just doing it._

“Nah, mine are tiny, yours are much more impressive. Can I ask you some questions about what you told me?”

_Sure._

“So, up here a man and a woman will get married and then have kids and that’s a family. Do three people get married down there or what, like, how do you do all that?”

_Oh, well, it varies. People will have pairs or groups of three or even more. We don’t really have marriage, but once those bonds are formed they usually are not broken._

“Ok, up here if the wrong people see two men or two women kissing then they can get arrested. The preacher says they’re going to hell. Do you guys do that? Like, can a male be with a male or a maker with a maker, or whatever?”

_We don’t usually pay a lot of attention to gender until it comes time to reproduce. People are in groups of however they please. Sometimes different groups will come together to raise children, too. It can be very complicated._

“I’m getting that. So, some groups have to be missing one part of the equation, so how do they have kids?”

_They’ll usually have a friend who can help them out._

“Ok. So, you said that how often a maker has a cycle depends on the population of the area but since you are the only one really in this area…”

_Yes. This will be happening frequently, I’m afraid._

“Is it unpleasant? Does it make it hard to swim or something?”

_Heh. No, I don’t think I could make enough eggs to make it hard to swim, I’m pretty small._

That sort of self-depreciative tone came out sometimes in reference to how stick-thin Steve was. Apparently others of his species were usually larger by his age, and he used to get picked on by others before they were banished. Bucky had a hunch, and he acted on it.

“Aw, now, don’t say that Stevie. I’m sure you’ll make a bunch of them, you’ve already made so many and you’re only halfway there.”

_It’s not really that many, it just looks like a lot on me,_ Steve said, but he was blushing.

“It sure looks like a lot to me, Stevie. You’ve probably made at least seventy already, maybe eighty. What’s the average number?”

_A hundred is average. It can get to be up to two hundred or two-fifty though._

“I bet you’ll have at least a hundred and fifty.”

Steve was blushing furiously. _I-in my culture, how many eggs a maker produces is dependent on the maker. More eggs is more desirable, so…_

“I’m telling you you’re hot, is what you’re saying?” Bucky said with a grin. Steve nodded. “I thought so. Well, I stand by my statements.”

Steve’s eyebrows shot up. _What? You mean you…_ Steve sat up to be eye-to-eye with him.

“Yeah. One of the first things I thought when I saw you was that you were beautiful. I’ve been sweet on you for a while, Stevie. But, I mean, if you don’t want-”

_I do! I, I mean, I’ve liked you for a while and… but I figured you wouldn’t want to be with someone so different, and I’m… I’m not attractive, I know that._

“Yes you are Stevie, I promise. Your eyes are like the most beautiful blue, and your lips always look like you’re wearing something on them because they look so full and kissable. Your hands, too, I’ve always liked your hands, they look so… elegant. And your tail is like, wow. It’s like you’re made of silver and jewels.”

Steve was staring at him dumbstruck. _Can we, I mean, do you want to… kiss me?_

Bucky grinned and moved forward, cupping his hand behind Steve’s head and kissing him softly, then deeper. There was a bit of a learning curve as they figured out how to move their mouths together but soon they pretty much had the hang of it. Steve opened his mouth slightly and Bucky pushed his tongue in like he knew you were supposed to. He hadn’t kissed anyone else before, once he’d started wanting to the only one he was really interested in was Steve. Steve’s mouth was kind of salty and clean tasting. Bucky was careful with his tongue around Steve’s sharp teeth. They broke apart, panting. Bucky was hard in his shorts and he knew that Steve could see.

“So, uh, I gotta ask you a practical question,” Bucky said hesitantly.

_Yes, I have genitals. But we can’t… I don’t… do, sex, exactly. I can’t do it like humans. Not right now at least. It’s complicated._

“Ok, I don’t really need you to have sex with me. So, how long does your cycle last?”

_The growth phase lasts for another four days, then it’s twenty days after that until I re-absorb the eggs._

“So… do you wanna like, show each other what we have, at least? Just so we can see. I’m kind of curious.”

_Yeah, me too. You first._

“Why do I always gotta be first?” Bucky complained, but he was grinning. He stood and took off his shorts and his underwear, standing there fully nude. He was hard, but nervousness had dampened it somewhat.

_What are those parts underneath it? _Steve, asked, curious. Bucky sat back down, sitting on his shorts so he wasn’t directly on the rock.

“What? Oh, those are my balls. It’s where I keep my sperm.”

_Why is it drooping now?_

Bucky snorted a laugh, “Well I got hard when we were kissing before, aroused, you know? But then I was kinda nervous about showing it to you and that killed it.”

_Huh. That’s interesting. So now me._ He reached down to his crotch region and pulled open a previously-invisible slit slightly with one finger on either side. Then a penis-ish thing emerged from the slit. It didn’t have a head and was slightly pointed, just like a pale pink tube, about an inch and a half in diameter and maybe six or seven inches long.

“Hmm, that’s interesting,” Bucky said. As soon as the words left his mouth the tube shot back inside Steve like a turtle hiding in its shell. Steve looked away from him, looking extremely embarrassed.

_No one’s ever seen it before, _Steve said.

“No one? Not even your mom?”

_What?! Ew! No!_

“I guess it’s different for you cuz it’s not like hanging out here like mine. My mom’s seen mine cuz she used to change my diapers and give me baths and stuff, not anything weird.”

_Oh, right. No, the only time anyone sees it is for sexual purposes._

“Well, if it makes you feel better, I haven’t even kissed a girl. Or a boy, either. We’ll have to figure it out as we go.”

_Somehow, I doubt that having prior experience would help anyway._

“Well, I’m sure that we can’t be the first merperson/human couple _ever_ but yeah, this is going to take some trial and error.”

After that they went swimming. Bucky found swimming in the nude very freeing and declared that he was gonna swim nude from now on. Eventually Bucky had to leave though. He didn’t know what Steve meant exactly when he said that he couldn’t have sex. Maybe he thought there was nowhere to stick it in Bucky? Bucky knew that was definitely not the case, he knew what two men could get up to and Bucky figured the principal was probably similar. Bucky hadn’t really covered that in his sex talk, maybe he should have. Plus, Bucky knew that he could use his mouth, too. Steve likely hadn’t considered that. Probably because Steve’s teeth were so sharp, honestly. They would find a way to make it work.

The next day when Steve hopped up on the rock he was significantly larger. The crest of his belly was easily ten inches out from his chest.

“Woah, you’re growing fast. Do you want me to rub you some more?”

_Yes, please._ Steve said eagerly. He laid down on the rock and Bucky took up rubbing his belly.

“You’re definitely gonna hit one-fifty, maybe even more.”

Steve was the worst person at taking a compliment, he looked like you were stabbing him he was so embarrassed.

_Thanks, Buck. You know, it’s usually a romantic partner who does this for a maker._

“Well, I’m hoping I qualify in that category now.”

_When you first were doing it I was pretending… pretending that we were really like that. That we were together. And now it’s true. I’m so happy._

“Anything you want that I can give you is yours Stevie. I’ll rub your belly every day for the next twenty-three days if you want.”

_That sounds nice._

“So, we got real side-tracked yesterday, but I believe I was promised an explanation on the fact that you’re apparently an alien.”

_Oh, right. My people come from a world called Alfheim. The Norse people on this planet thought another group on another planet, the Aesir, were gods. The Aesir look like humans but are much stronger. They live on Asgard and they rule the nine realms, including Earth and Alfheim. At some point a long time ago, some of our kind decided to move to Midgard, which is Earth, as at that time your oceans were plentiful and peaceful. There are great beasts of the deep in Alfheim, horrible creatures the size of whales or bigger that love nothing more than to eat my people. Here we are at the top of the food chain, barring the occasional aggressive shark. But we didn’t count on you humans. We thought that a land creature could never hope to best us in the sea but your ancestors hunted us. We retreated deeper and fell out of memory. There is much of the ocean that your people have never touched._

“So are there more aliens besides just you and the… Ass-er?”

_Aesir. There are people on the land of Alfheim, the elves. They’re a lot like the elves from that book you brought, the Hobbit, Tolkien probably got his inspiration from them. And yes, there are many, many worlds in the stars, _Steve said, looking up at the sky.

“So there’s the Aesir, the elves, you, and there’s seven other worlds? Including Earth? Wait so some aliens we don’t even know about supposedly rule the Earth?”

_Yes, it does sound kind of odd now that you mention it. But would you rather the King demand tribute and fealty?_

“No, I don’t think that would go over real well.”

_Might be why he hasn’t. Really it’s good, though, no one wants to go against Asgard, so they won’t be keen on attacking you._

“Well, I’m glad we’re not going to see a reenactment of War of the Worlds. That would be bad. Who’s the king? I should probably know the name of the guy in charge of my planet.”

_King Odin, the Allfather._

“Got it. Are your people in contact with the Aesir?”

_No, when we came to Midgard they left us alone, which I think my people were happy about._

“You guys weren’t too keen on being ruled?”

_No I don’t think so._

“Well, it seems to me that humans and your kind could get along pretty well on that front, in fact my country fought a whole war about not having a king,” Bucky said with a smile. Steve smiled and lay back to look at the stars.

Bucky fully expected that he was gonna spend the next twenty days or so rubbing Steve’s swollen belly and talking but that was not the case. When he saw Steve on the eighth day of the cycle he was massive, he looked like he’d swallowed a watermelon. He couldn’t get up out of the water all the way, he just got about halfway out and gave up, flopping on his back with a groan.

“Aww, poor Stevie. You look like a beached whale.”

_Fuck you Barnes._

Bucky chuckled and pulled him another few feet onto the rock, leaving his tail halfway in the water like usual. Bucky sat down to get to it but as soon as he put his hands on Steve he gasped and arched into his touch. Bucky heard Steve make a wordless noise in his head that he could only classify as a moan. Bucky removed his hands quickly, confused.

“Are you ok? Did I hurt you?”

_No, it felt, it felt too good. I thought it wouldn’t happen till tomorrow but once the growing phase is done touching my belly becomes extremely pleasurable in a-a sexual way._

“Oh. Well, why exactly is that bad? I mean, you said we couldn’t fool around but if I could get you off just from touching your belly…”

_But you can’t, that’s the thing. The only way I can climax is if I’m laying the eggs, and I-I can only lay the eggs _in_ someone. And I’m just… not interested in sex at any other time. I’m sorry, Bucky._ Steve looked so distressed.

“That’s ok Steve, we can work this out. What if I used my mouth?”

_To do what?_

“I mean, I could take your dick or whatever and put it in my mouth and I could like swallow them,” Bucky said. He eyed Steve’s distended abdomen doubtfully, “Well, maybe not all at once.”

With some effort Steve sat up to look at him in shock.

_I… you would do that? But what if they’re poisonous or something?_

“Well, we can start with a few and then wait a day to see if I get sick.”

_That’s if your mouth even works._

“Only one way to find out.”

_…alright._

Steve lay back down and Bucky started rubbing his belly again. Steve gasped and writhed beneath him and Bucky could hear him moaning in his head. With a wicked grin Bucky leaned down and licked the taunt skin and Bucky heard a sound in his head that sounded like a cat when you step on it. Judging by the look on Steve’s face that was a good sound. He licked kissed various areas, but when he scraped Steve lightly with his teeth Steve made a sound sort of like a whistling teakettle. He sat up and saw that Steve’s dick-thing was out and leaking some sort of fluid. It sort of stuck straight out so it was easy to grab it and stroke it.

“If it’s working and you’re about to start you tell me alright?”

_Y-yeah._

Bucky lowered his mouth onto it and sucked on it. It was a bit softer than his own hard dick but not by much. He sucked it and worked the base with his hand but he could tell it wasn’t enough. He could see Steve’s frustration as he tried to buck up into his mouth but the weight of his belly kept him pinned in place mostly. Bucky took a deep breath and started to work his mouth lower on Steve’s thing. Luckily Bucky had anticipated this outcome, sort of. He’d expected to get Steve in his mouth, maybe, but not until like a month. Bucky had gotten excited and begun working on killing his gag reflex, but he really hadn’t gotten that far. Steve’s thing being soft was an advantage, it made it easier to slip down his throat. He gagged several times and had to back up but eventually he worked his way down it, moving his head up and down gently. Steve gasped violently,

_Holy shit it’s working! Th-they’re coming._

Bucky felt the egg pass his lips and worked on keeping relaxed. If he did this right it would just-nope! Shit! Bucky gagged on the egg, pulling off and choking for a second. He managed to swallow it though.

_Are you ok?_

“Yeah. Like I said, trial and error.”

Bucky went back at it and it didn’t take long to get Steve worked up again. This time when Steve warned him he pushed down as far as he could, his forehead pressed against the bottom of Steve’s belly. He hoped that if he could get it far enough in there the eggs would just sort of slide down. He felt the egg slide down his throat and… nothing. It kept going. Holy shit Bucky was a genius. A merperson-sex genius. Bucky let three more in before he pulled off for a total of five. Steve whined at the loss of his mouth.

“I know Stevie, but we agreed just a few to make sure it won’t make me sick.”

_I can’t believe that actually worked. It was only a few so it didn’t take the edge off a whole lot. But just the possibility that I won’t have to suffer through being incredibly horny without having any way to do anything about it is great._

“What does it feel like?”

_Kind of like each one is a tiny spike of pleasure?_

“Huh. I get it. Well, I’m pretty sure I won’t get sick from these, in fact I think I might be able to actually digest them, which would be great, we’d save some money on food.”

_Why do you think that?_

“Ok, well consider this: people can eat chicken and fish eggs-”

_I’m not a chicken or a fish Buck!_ Steve said indignantly.

“Oh, gee, really? I didn’t notice. Lemme finish you mook. Anyway, your eggs are probably pretty similar to at least one of them, I’d guess fish because the eggs are soft and squishy rather than hard. Point two: you and humans have similar dietary needs, you eat fish and oysters and junk. Point three: eggs are meant to provide nutrients to a growing baby merperson. Ergo, whatever nutrients are in the eggs I should be able to absorb.”

_How long did it take you to come up with that?_

“About the length of time it took me to say it.”

_I’m impressed. You may be right._ Steve’s eyes fell on Bucky’s dick, which was still about half-hard from where he’d gotten so aroused from sucking Steve.

_Did you… I mean, did you find that arousing?_ Steve asked. He sounded amazed.

“Uh, yeah. I mean, not the choking and stuff, but when I was touching you beforehand and once I got the technique down… I liked it. I like the idea of you… of you putting your eggs in me. I kind of wish that I could take them all at once so I’d be as big as you are, the thought of being stretched out like that really does it for me. I’m pretty sure I’m a pervert but whatever,” Bucky said with a shrug. Steve was breathing heavily.

_Fucking… you can’t just say stuff like that when I can’t… you’re a cruel man Bucky Barnes._

Bucky grinned wickedly. “You’ll just have to wait until tomorrow. But don’t worry, I will too. I won’t touch myself at all until tomorrow, promise,” he said with a grin. Steve groaned. They jumped in the water to cool off their raging libidos.

That night when Bucky went home he kept thinking about the fact that he had alien eggs inside him. Just said like that it sounded like the back of some weird pulp science fiction book that would begin with him dying horribly and a plague of parasitic aliens starting. But they were _Steve’s _eggs. It would be _Steve’s_ parasite babies. He found it nearly unbearably erotic and had to excuse himself to his room early to avoid mortifying himself in front of his family. He lay on his bed and imagined what it would feel like. The eggs would hatch inside him. They would get bigger and bigger. His stomach would swell outward and he’d be able to feel them wiggling around inside him. They’d just live in there, feeding off him, filling him up. Bucky was hard as a rock. He didn’t touch himself but oh, how he wanted to. He shifted back and forth and imagined he could feel the eggs rolling inside him. He couldn’t, but come tomorrow he fully intended to swallow as many of those eggs as he physically could.

Bucky was so eager to get down to their place the next day that he almost killed himself slipping on a rock. He recovered but went a little slower after that. He stood on the rock, bouncing on his toes and throwing his clothes off. He was naked by the time Steve hauled himself up there. Bucky helped him scoot into a good position and straddled him, kneeling over him. Steve already looked gone, pupils blown wide and breathing heavy. Bucky settled down on Steve gently, not entirely sitting on him but still putting some weight on him. The position mashed Bucky’s cock in between his own body and Steve’s massive belly. Slowly Bucky began to massage it while grinding into it a bit with his hips. He got Steve making the teakettle sound in like a minute. He gently scraped his nails down the sensitive flesh and he was hit with a wall of feelings from Steve. He could feel Steve’s desperation, his burning desire to be inside Bucky _right now!_

“Stevie, while I’m doing it, I want you to talk to me, alright? Tell me that I’m doing good, tell me to keep going. Tell me how I’m making you feel, got it?”

_I don’t want to tell you to keep going if you want to stop._

“I want to do this; I just think some encouragement will make it easier. God, I want you to fill me up Stevie, please. I promise I’ll stop if I think I’m in danger, so trust me Stevie, ok?”

_Ok, Buck, anything for you. I trust you._

Bucky got to work on Steve, licking and sucking, teasing Steve. Finally, he got down to business and swallowed Steve down, swallowing around him.

_Th-they’re coming!_ Steve whined. Bucky felt the first egg enter his mouth and he held his breath, relaxing his throat. The egg went down smoothly, as did the one after that, and the ones after. Bucky fell almost into a trance, synchronizing his breathing with the regular depositing of the eggs. He focused on how they felt as each one slid down his throat. They were warm and slightly salty tasting, like everything of Steve’s apparently. Gradually Bucky began to feel full. He gripped Steve’s hip, hoping he would get the message.

_You’re doing so good Bucky. Ah, you’re perfect, you feel so amazing around me. I know how much you’ve wanted this. You want to be filled up with me. You’re gonna look so good Bucky, how big do you think you’re gonna get? Can you feel them inside you Buck?_

Bucky could, he could feel them. There were so many, he could feel them shifting around inside him as his stomach struggled to contain them all. He lifted his hand off of Steve’s hip to feel his belly and he was so surprised he nearly choked on the next egg. His stomach felt bigger, not by a whole lot, but he could definitely feel his stomach bulging outward just a bit, giving him a small belly. Bucky held on with renewed vigor, eagerly swallowing each egg. His stomach was starting to strain, even as he rubbed it to soothe it he began to feel pains, but they were small, just from the stretching.

_That’s it Bucky, I can see it from over here, you’re getting bigger, huh? I bet you didn’t think you’d be able to feel it on the outside but your poor belly is looking very strained. Is it starting to hurt yet? It must be, I can see you trying to sooth it. How many more can you cram in there Buck? How long before you give up? Your tummy is going to be so angry at you, it’s not used to stretching like this. You just gotta relax Buck, just relax and breathe. I wonder if you can swallow enough that you can’t walk home? You’ll just have to stay here with me and I’ll rub your belly this time._

The pain was a bit more intense now, but Bucky still felt fine. It was like the pain from stretching a muscle after sitting still for a while, it hurt but it felt good. More important was the overwhelming and oppressive feeling of _fullness_ inside him. He felt like he could barely breathe because there was no room inside him for air, but he kept breathing steadily. He felt like each egg would be the one that would tip him over the edge but after every one he found that he could take just one more. A large cramp rippled through his belly but he held on to see of it would pass. It did. Another one came and he breathed through it. He still felt like he was good to keep going, but another dozen eggs after that he hit his limit, and then he swallowed three more just to show his body who was boss. He pulled off of Steve with a groan and rolled over onto his back. He hesitantly put his hands on his stomach, marveling at how round it was. It stuck out a good four or five inches and was absolutely packed solid with eggs. Steve sat up beside him and started to rub his belly just like he promised. Bucky moaned at how good it felt.

_Do you want me to do the same for you? What’s that called?_

“It’s called a blowjob or sucking someone off.” Bucky eyed Steve’s teeth nervously, they were really, really sharp. Bucky had seen what Steve could do to a fish. “Ok but you gotta be really careful, alright? Don’t bite me.”

Steve smiled at Bucky and Bucky gulped nervously. Steve gently licked at his dick, holding the base and stroking it. Then he gently took it into his mouth and sucked on it. Bucky felt the sharp points of Steve’s teeth just barely touch his dick a couple times and he was surprised when the sharp pricks and the fear combined with the feeling of pressure and fullness inside him to make Bucky more aroused than he’d ever been in his life. God, Bucky was such a deviant, but he really did not care. Steve sucked on him eagerly while continuing to rub Bucky’s aching belly. Bucky came quite quickly. Steve lay down beside him and curled against him. Both of them soaked up the sun for a moment.

_Did you like it? Did I do alright?_

“You did perfectly Stevie. That was like the most amazing sex experience of my life. Not that there have been any others but still.”

_It was amazing for me too, Buck._

“I’m sorry you didn’t get to finish.”

_That’s fine. You intend to take all of them, right?_

“Yep.”

_Well I’m fine with waiting._

They lay there dozing in the sun for several hours. When evening drew near Steve looked at Bucky in concern.

_Don’t you have to go home, Buck?_

“Nope. I told my mom that I was staying with a friend for a couple days.”

_Wow. So, then what’s the plan exactly?_

“Well, in about another hour I think I’ll be alright to go again. Then we sleep it off and do a repeat tomorrow.”

In an hour they went at it again and it was much more difficult. Bucky was already stretched to capacity so every egg was stretching him even further. Steve, sensing Bucky’s distress, started speaking.

_All of this is so you can take my entire clutch at once right? Just imagine it for a moment, after eight days of watching me grow, eagerly anticipating it, you swallow every single egg I make all at once. You’d be enormous, Buck, you wouldn’t be able to move for days. These eggs, Buck, I made them for you. I’ve got a secret to tell you: some people think that a maker with no romantic partner won’t make any eggs, and I think it’s true. I made these eggs just for you, and you want them so bad, don’t you? You want to be big and swollen with my eggs, you’re so eager for it. Settle down Buck, you don’t have to do anything, just stay there and let me give you what you want._

Bucky was simultaneously turned on and touched. Steve saying that he’d made these eggs especially for Bucky hit all the right buttons and Bucky swallowed them down eagerly, ignoring his discomfort. But he had to stop eventually, feeling like he was about to burst. Bucky examined his new stomach. He was huge, his stomach easily jutting out seven inches from its original size. He could feel the eggs resettling inside him, each trying to squeeze into every available space in him. His stomach was making a near constant gurgling noise from its frantic efforts to digest the meal. Steve snickered and sidled up beside him, laying his head against Bucky’s stomach and rubbing it.

_Your poor tummy is so angry at you, just like I told you. It’s kind of soothing, it sounds like the ocean._

“We’re next to the ocean.”

_Yes, but you have your own personal ocean inside you, just like the name I gave you, remember?_

“Of course I remember, Stevie. I love my name.”

When night fell Bucky looked over at Steve and gasped. Steve was glowing! There was a faint blue glow all over his body.

“Holy shit Stevie, you didn’t tell me you could glow,” Bucky said in amazement. Steve looked at him with a slightly confused face.

_Oh. Huh, it didn’t really occur to me that you _don’t_ glow. Lots of things in the ocean glow._

“That’s really swell, Steve. You are just full of surprises.”

They slept on the rock that night, which was a bad idea because they woke up in massive amounts of pain. Bucky went to the backpack he’d brought and drank a bunch of the water he’d brought. He hadn’t anticipated the eggs being so salty. Bucky’s belly had gone down a little as he digested and liquefied the eggs, presumably, and he felt good. He was definitely ready for more. His belly felt looser even with the volume of mostly-liquid inside it. Bucky felt a bit like a water balloon. He rubbed at his belly and felt a strange sensation, he investigated and his eyes widened.

“Holy shit. Steve, look at this,” Bucky said, walking over to where Steve was stretching in their tide pool.

_What?_ Steve asked, sounding alarmed. Bucky walked down and sat on a rock, showing Steve what he’d discovered. He grabbed at his bellybutton and pulled, and the skin stretched out like an inch, way more than it should have, especially given that Bucky’s belly was already so swollen. Steve’s eyes widened.

_It was always assumed that the female was already capable of stretching to carry the eggs, but perhaps it is possible that the maker releases some sort of chemicals to assist._

“Ok, but why is it working on me? Also, did we just make a major scientific discovery about your biology?”

_I guess you were right about our biology being compatible. Maybe it works on anything, who knows. And yes, I think so._

“Nifty. I guess this makes me the foremost scientific expert on your species. It seems like it took until now for me to get properly stretchy because my body wasn’t originally designed to do that, not to mention we’re talking about a completely different part of the anatomy.”

_You’re the only scientific expert on our species. That sounds as good as any guess I suppose._

“I guess all we can do is theorize unless you wanna go fuck a dolphin.”

_I am NOT fucking a dolphin, what the hell Buck?!_

“Aww, come on Stevie, for science.”

_Why don’t you fuck the damn dolphin?_

“Steve, what would be the point of that, we’re trying to determine through experimentation whether or not your egg chemicals will make anything stretchy.”

_Really, Buck? Really?_

Bucky cracked up laughing and after a moment Steve joined him.

“Ok, I think it’s time to put my new stretchiness to the test.”

Bucky pounced on Steve enthusiastically, rubbing himself all over Steve like a cat. They both got out of the water and onto the flat rock where Bucky zeroed in on Steve with single-minded intensity. Bucky was quickly becoming an expert in how to get Steve going and soon he was swallowing down more eggs. Bucky still felt the stretch, which pleased him, he liked it, but the pain was gone. Now there was only pleasure and pressure. Bucky rubbed at Steve’s belly while he sucked him, and to his surprise it had gone down significantly. His own belly was slung low beneath him, filled with eggs and the liquid remains of broken-down eggs.

He shifted back and forth and felt his belly sway beneath him. The new looseness was making him sloshy. All the eggs in his belly suddenly had a bit of give to shift around. Bucky’s belly was enormous, to be sure. He kept periodically checking himself against Steve and at some point he realized that he’d passed the halfway mark and now he was getting _bigger_ than Steve. Bucky kept swallowing with renewed eagerness. Bucky shifted back and forth every once and a while just to feel his belly sloshing and swaying beneath him. Gradually it stopped swaying as much, becoming too tightly packed. Bucky felt so heavy and tight, his limbs were shaking a little. Bucky felt Steve and found that he was so small, Bucky was so close.

_God, Bucky, you’re amazing. I can’t believe you’re gonna take in my whole clutch. I want you to do it Buck, I want you to take every. Single. Egg. And I want you to pack them into that tight belly of yours. I know that you can. Fuck, you’re so close. It feels so good Buck. These last ones feel even better than the others, I can feel every one going down your hungry throat. Fuck you’re packed so tight but you’re still so hungry for more. Every egg that goes into that belly of yours is like an orgasm, Buck. Can you feel it?_

Bucky could. Steve started transmitting his feelings to Bucky, every egg was a climax. Bucky could barely handle it but he didn’t want it to stop. He felt the pressure in his belly more intensely than ever but Bucky didn’t even consider stopping. He needed more, he wanted more, everything felt so good. Bucky and Steve shuddered in unison as the climaxes grew more intense. Bucky’s belly was so tight that when he put a hand on it there was no give to it at all yet Bucky continued to stuff the eggs down his throat. The pressure felt so good, each orgasm seeming to come directly from the center of the tight, hot mass in Bucky’s belly. He felt like his stomach was hotter than the rest of him, his whole abdomen felt warm.

The pressure was reaching insane levels, pressure of all kinds. Bucky felt an intense pressure deep in his pelvis as well, he’d been feeling the climaxes from Steve but he hadn’t actually come yet. The pleasure from the stimulation was purely mental, leaving his body begging to come. Bucky couldn’t come until the end, he somehow sensed, his orgasm had been tied to Steve. The rate of eggs began to increase, and Bucky tried to sooth his stomach. The pain was back, apparently his new stretchiness couldn’t keep up, but it was like a distant shadow to the enormous pressure of all those eggs straining and squishing against each other. Each egg was a struggle, but Bucky swallowed them one by one. His brain was absolutely fried from all the climaxes, but they kept coming. Steve had linked them together and now they were both just along for the ride.

One more. One more. Bucky wanted them, he wanted them all, all of Steve’s eggs inside him but fuck, there was no more room. Bucky was going to have to make room, because the eggs kept coming, faster and faster until there was no break between them. Bucky managed to breathe somehow as the eggs forced their way down his throat. Bucky couldn’t figure out how Steve’s tiny body was managing to force eggs into his beyond stuffed belly with the strength of a fire hose but it was.

He and Steve were climaxing at a near constant rate, and Bucky didn’t know if he was going to either orgasm or die, one of the two, but it had to happen soon. Bucky didn’t stop though, he needed it, he wanted it. Bucky’s stomach groaned and he put a hand on it to try and sooth it. It was as hard as a rock and getting bigger. It was huge, enormous, and so heavy. The pressure inside was still increasing, pushing his belly inexorably outward. It was too much, it was all way too much. Bucky was like a tiny rowboat in a hurricane of pleasure and pain and he was dangerously close to capsizing. Bucky wanted this, he wanted everything Steve had, and he was getting it. The pressure in Bucky’s belly abruptly spiked and he almost blacked out.

There was a different pressure increasing to maddening degrees as the eggs continued to force their way into Bucky. He had to come, he was right on the cusp but he couldn’t come because Steve hadn’t finished. The heat of a building orgasm coiled low in his belly but it couldn’t release. The overwhelming fullness in his stomach was competing with the pressure of Bucky’s restrained orgasm, a deeper pressure low down in his belly in between his hips and in his balls. Steve had to come, he had to get this over with. Bucky reached up and massaged on Steve’s stomach, finding it completely flat. Fuck, he was almost there. Steve whined in his head as Bucky massaged harder. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. There were too many, he couldn’t hold them. Bucky’s belly was enormous but it wasn’t getting any bigger. The pressure inside kept increasing but his skin had no more give. Oh fuck he was going to-

Quite abruptly the last egg left Steve and they both orgasmed at the same time. The orgasm rocked through Bucky’s body in waves and he felt his cock give spurt after spurt of cum. Bucky couldn’t move as the orgasm just kept going, wringing everything out of Bucky. Holy fuck humans were not meant to withstand pleasure to this degree. Gradually the orgasm stopped. Very, very gently Bucky rolled over onto his back. He felt that with the slightest poke he’d burst and spill all of Steve’s eggs all over the rock. Bucky could only breathe shallowly and lay there, dazed. After a moment he brought up his hands to feel of his belly. He couldn’t believe that he could get this big. He looked much, much bigger than Steve. He looked like he’d _eaten _Steve. He felt Steve’s hands gently caressing him and he felt Steve pressing gentle kisses into his poor distended flesh.

_Poor Bucky, you got a lot more than you bargained for. My egg sac is a lot bigger than it seems like, I think. The part you can see is only some of it. I’m so sorry, Buck, are you ok?_

“I think so. That was amazing. I’m surprised I didn’t have a heart attack. I think this is a lot more than two-hundred, how did you _fit_ all of these in you Stevie?”

Steve shrugged sheepishly.

“Figures that you’d be the most damn productive maker of your entire fucking species.”

_I think that’s an exaggeration._

“I really don’t think so. Fuck, I can’t go home like this, I can’t even fucking move. Ugh, I’m being crushed, can you help me get to the pool?”

With some effort and scraping (ow) Bucky managed to gracelessly dump himself into the tide pool head-first. He sluggishly and awkwardly righted himself and paddled across the pool, towing his massive belly. He was so heavy that he could barely keep afloat. He got settled in the most comfortable alcove, which was covered in soft moss, and laid back as Steve continued his ministrations on Bucky’s tummy, stroking and kissing and massaging.

“’s what you would do after if I was a mermaid?”

_Yeah, probably something like this. I’m just following my instincts._

“Are you sad that I’m not?”

_No, Buck, I don’t want you to be anything but you._

“You don’t feel upset that I’m eating your potential children?”

_What do you call me sucking you off then?_

“Well, yeah, but… I dunno, this is kind of different, isn’t it?”

_I admit it is a more dramatic visual reminder but in the end it’s the same result._

“Would you want to have kids if you could?”

_I don’t think so, no. I don’t think I’d be a good parent, I’m too… too angry, after everything that’s happened to me. And I don’t even like kids, they’re so noisy and fragile, they freak me out._

“Can I ask you something?”

_Anything._

“Why were you banished? I’ve been trying to ask you for a while but I couldn’t find the right time… I think I’ve established that I’m in for the long haul, Steve. Not just anyone would let you do this to them let me tell you. I want to know.”

_Ok, Buck. I definitely believe you on that, I’m so sorry about this. My mother and my father were part of a rebellion group that tried to overthrow the government._

“Woah.”

_The government is a council but they’re corrupt. Their laws are harsh, they keep people under their thumb and prevent all contact with humans. They tell everyone that all humans will eat you or cut you up on sight._

“I’m surprised that you even talked to me.”

_ I was awake for longer than I let on. You were holding me so gently and humming to me and I knew that you didn’t want to hurt me. My father was killed in the rebellion, as was my maker. My mother had me to watch so she didn’t take place in the fighting, but she was working behind the scenes, coordinating and bringing people to their cause. Once the government quashed the rebellion she was banished. No one else would take me so she had to bring me with her._

“No one would take you? Why?”

_Because I was so small. They didn’t want to take a child that they were sure they was going to die. I guess I showed them, huh?_

“That’s my Stevie.”

It took three more days for Bucky to absorb enough of the eggs to look like he was sort of in the same shape that he left in. During that time Steve fretted over him constantly, honestly Bucky kind of enjoyed it. He also realized at some point that he hadn’t taken a dump in like two days. Bucky was concerned that something was wrong but he felt fine. According to Steve, though, that meant that Bucky was absorbing the eggs properly. The unfertilized ones were designed to be absorbed by a female’s body with only liquid waste products. He said that only about one quarter of the total mass was liquid though. Bucky realized that this was potentially a minor problem. Where would the rest of that material go?

It turned out the answer was everywhere. Bucky’s belly slowly shrank back towards a relatively normal size while the rest of his body subtly filled out. Bucky was a pretty lanky kid and he didn’t get much to eat so he was kind of amazed by the changes in his body. He hadn’t had any excess body fat since he was like three he was pretty sure. He thanked his lucky stars that he’d started to wear his dad’s hand-me downs, which were so loose that no one would notice that he’d suddenly gained some weight. He could apparently carry the weight well, he didn’t look obviously larger in any one place except his belly, which was still shrinking. Bucky now had a thin layer of fat across his thighs and his ass, barely noticeable unless you were really looking. Bucky felt good, and he looked good, too, he thought. Bucky had been underweight before so now he was pretty healthy. Bucky mentioned all this to Steve.

_Good. I don’t like that you were underweight,_ Steve said, looking a bit proud as his eyes roamed over Bucky’s new body. _I kind of like that I altered you so noticeably. I think you look really good. Is that bad?_

“I like it, too, so no, I guess not. I wish I didn’t have to hide it, but disappearing for several days and coming back what looks like ten pounds heavier is definitely not normal, so,” Bucky shrugged.

His mom was furious when he got home but he spun her a tale that his friend had gotten so sick that Bucky had been afraid he was gonna die so of course he couldn’t leave him. Disappearing was so out of character for Bucky that his mom believed him. Bucky then returned to his room to rub his still-swollen stomach in contentment. He weighed himself later, when everyone had gone to bed. Before, Bucky had weighed about 120, which according to the chart at the doctor was about 10 pounds underweight for his height (5’6). Bucky now weighed about 130, so his guess was right. Bucky felt a bit guilty that he was suddenly getting so much to eat while his sisters were still so thin but what could he do? It wasn’t like he could share, that was just-no. How would that even work? Gross.

Bucky didn’t eat for another two days after that, disappearing before lunchtime and coming back after dinner. He told them he was eating at Steve’s house. He wasn’t starving himself, he was doing just fine on the eggs still hanging around in his belly. Finally his body seemed to absorb all the eggs, leaving his belly relatively flat. He had a distinct layer of softness but he was hungry again. Bucky continued to slip most of his food to his sisters when no one was looking but his mostly empty belly didn’t feel as bad since he knew he had a reserve to fall back on.

A month after that Steve’s cycle started again. It was easier that time, Bucky still broke it up over two days but he didn’t feel like he was about to die when they finished. Well, he did, but only in the good ways, that pleasure sharing trick of Steve’s was fantastic. After that cycle Bucky was sitting at 140. After the third cycle that summer Bucky was at 150 and a full inch taller than he was at the start of the summer.

Bucky wasn’t sure if his increase in height would have happened anyway or was due to the dramatic increase in nutrients. Bucky was nervous that his parents would notice and ask him where he was getting so much food and why he wasn’t bringing any home to his sisters. If they saw they didn’t say anything though. His new weight wasn’t all fat, not by a long shot. There was tons of protein in the eggs. Bucky was swimming with Steve nearly constantly, climbing over rocks and such. He was building a lot of muscle, too, under his new layer of softness.

It wasn’t long after the third cycle that Steve had to go south to escape the cold. Bucky had dropped out of school the year before to work odd jobs and that fall he finally he got a steady job working at the docks on the morning shift, loading crates and utilizing his new muscles. Bucky was a little broken-hearted that Steve left, but he filled his evening time with taking girls dancing. He gained a reputation in the neighborhood as an all-around great guy. He’d show a girl a nice time but never even think about getting fast with her, giving nothing more than a chaste peck on the cheek.

The girls certainly enjoyed Bucky’s muscles, and most of them didn’t mind his work-roughened hands. But some of them would scrunch their noses up when he held their hand, like he was dirty or smelled bad. Most of those girls were the more upper class ones, whose fathers were businessmen or politicians instead of factory workers or whatever. They were used to men with smooth hands who worked at desks and didn’t have to worry about food. They admired the muscles that Bucky had built from hard work but they didn’t like his callused hands, they didn’t like where the work had made him rough instead of so smooth like them.

Bucky didn’t go out with the girls who scrunched their noses up at him twice. He stuck to the girls who were kind. They squealed when Bucky lifted them up to twirl them around. With the men he was funny and charming, easily getting friends by being a good friend. Guys sometimes teased him about not wanting any girls, and Bucky joked back that he was gonna be a priest.

One night the summer when Bucky was eighteen, they were swimming and playing chase as usual. Steve always won at chase, of course, so to make it fun he had to keep his eyes closed. The water was black and Bucky couldn’t see a thing but he moved as silently as he could, hugging the rocks. He saw Steve coming up on him so he launched off the rock in a mad dash to escape Steve. As usual, though, it was futile and Steve grabbed him by the ankle, yanking him back.

The wrestled in the water, but then something very unusual happened. Steve dove under the water, dragging Bucky down, and Bucky felt a sharp pain in his shoulder. He was so surprised that he almost breathed in water, but luckily he didn’t. Steve’s arms were wrapped around him from behind, holding him captive. Bucky didn’t freak out, he knew Steve wouldn’t hurt him, but he did struggle. Suddenly Steve released him and the pain in his shoulder lessened. He broke the surface, panting and confused. He looked at his shoulder and saw a very suspicious, bloody mark. Steve broke the surface too, glowing again like he wasn’t before. Bucky could see his horrified expression clearly.

“Did you bite me?” Bucky asked in confusion.

_I’m so sorry! It was-I-I’m really, really sorry. I didn’t mean to do that._

“How do you not mean to bite someone?”

_It was… instinct._

“Instinct? What kind of instinct is that?”

_I… here, let’s sit on the rock._

They moved to the rock and Bucky looked at him expectantly.

_I haven’t been… completely honest with you. You know all those legends about mermaids dragging sailors to their deaths and…eating them?_

Bucky’s eyes widened, “Uh-huh.”

_Well, they’re based in reality._

Bucky absorbed this for a moment. “So, you eat people.”

_“My _species_ eats people, sometimes. I’ve never eaten anyone. We don’t actively hunt people, but sometimes there would be a shipwreck, and, well, it was us or the sharks. We’re predators, you know that. In years past, my kind would sometimes eat people intentionally, to try to discourage people from going in the ocean and building their ships. It didn’t work so we decided to hide away. Now we’re just supposed to eat anyone who sees us.”_

“Fuck. So you were going to eat me?”

_No, I wasn’t. Well. The thought crossed my mind that I should, but I couldn’t. You were kind, I couldn’t kill someone kind._

Bucky sighed and ran a hand across his face. “Ok. So sometimes your species eats people but you don’t. So just now your instincts just took over and you saw me as… prey?”

_Y-yeah. I swear, Bucky, I would never really hurt you. It was just a moment. I’m so sorry._

“I know, Stevie, you don’t have to convince me of that.” A thought occurred to Bucky, “Wait, you said you didn’t eat be because I was kind. So, if I was an asshole you would have?”

_Well, probably, yeah._

“You would eat a person?”

_Buck you-you gotta understand that I’ve always been told that all humans were violent, horrible creatures. If I had eaten this hypothetical asshole, it would have been out of self-defense. I wouldn’t do it now, because I know that not all humans are like that. If I knew they were a terrible person, I might do it though._

“Really?”

_If they were trying to hurt you, or me, I would do it._

“Well, I mean, I get killing someone in self-defense, but do you really have to eat them?”

_It’s not in my nature to pass up a good meal. You don’t get it because you don’t have to hunt for your food, but it’s hard to find enough to eat. Honestly, there have been a few times where I’ve gotten hungry enough to consider grabbing someone who swam out a little too far. I’m sorry, but it’s true. I should have told you about this sooner, but I’m telling you now. You should know everything about me, the good and the bad, if you’re going to love me._

“I do love you. I dunno, Steve, I guess I understand. I mean, I don’t blame sharks for eating people, that’s just what they do. But it’s different for you because you’re smart and you know that people are smart, too, that we’re not animals.”

_Humans are animals, Bucky. They’re just smart ones. Obviously eating a human would be different from eating a fish, though. There’s more morality involved. I’m not saying that I wouldn’t do it, but if I did it would be for a good reason._

Bucky nodded, “Ok. I can accept that, I think. How often do you get hungry enough to consider eating people?”

_About once a month. During the growing phase of my cycle, it’s hard to find enough food. We’re pack hunters and I’m. I’m alone, in the water._

“Oh. Fuck, Stevie, why didn’t you tell me you were starving?”

_I know you don’t have enough food for yourself, Bucky, what could you do?_

“I… I dunno. I’ll think of something.”

When Steve started his cycle again, Bucky thought long and hard about how to help him. Buying food was right out, Bucky had no money for that. Then he remembered what Steve said about never having to hunt for his food and he had an idea. It took some trial and error but he managed it. He caught a raccoon in a trap that he set up in his garbage and killed it with a rock. Then he put it in a bag and brought it to the shore triumphantly.

“I brought you food! I, uh, I don’t know if you’ll like it, but if you don’t that’s ok.”

He set the bag in front of Steve, who opened it. His eyebrows shot up.

_You… did you buy this?_ he asked.

Bucky snorted, “No, they don’t sell raccoons, which is what that is. They aren’t usually eaten by people. I caught it myself,” Bucky declared proudly.

Steve looked oddly touched. He got the raccoon out of the bag and held it to his chest, looking at Bucky fondly.

_This is so sweet. In my culture, it is common for a mate to hunt for their loved one, so for me this is a very romantic gesture._

“Well, up here if I gave a girl a dead raccoon I’m pretty sure she’d call the police or something, but I’m glad you appreciate my hard work, I’ve never killed anything bigger than a roach before.”

_This is your first kill? Are you sure you don’t want it?_

“Uh, no, I’m fine. I’d have to cook it first anyway, otherwise I’d probably get sick. Wait, you don’t think it’ll make you sick, do you?”

_Probably not. I eat everything raw._

“Well, yeah, but raccoons live in the garbage and stuff. Ugh, I’m the worst mate ever, I got you a diseased vermin to eat.”

_It’s fine, I love it. Don’t talk about my meal like that. Now, I’m going to eat this raccoon, and it’s going to be fine._

With that he pulled his knife that he’d recently taken to wearing out of its sharkskin holster and started skinning the raccoon with brutal efficiency. It was oddly fascinating to watch. Bucky had brought a sandwich of his own to eat so that he wouldn’t just be sitting there watching Steve eat, so he got that out and bit into it. As he watched Steve decimate the raccoon it occurred to him that it probably looked pretty gross. He honestly hadn’t minded at all, he’d been watching Steve eat fish and stuff since they met, but he supposed to another person watching Steve digging through the raccoon for edible organs would be pretty disgusting.

“How is it?” he asked.

_Good. Really different from fish, tougher, but good._

“I’m glad. I was scared it would be gross.”

He continued to bring Steve animals, whatever he could catch. Raccoons, opossums, bunches of rats, even cats and dogs.

The first time was an accident. Bucky was coming back from visiting Steve later than he should have been, it was fully night, when a man stepped out of an alley with a knife. He demanded Bucky’s wallet, but Bucky didn’t have any money on him. When the man saw this he got angry and tried to stab Bucky anyway. Bucky fought back, and in the struggle he stabbed the man and killed him. Bucky panicked, he was sure he was going to jail even though it was self-defense. He knew that some poor worker like him might get convicted anyway, there was no way he could afford a lawyer. He drug the man toward the dock and tossed him over. He stood there for a moment, numb. Then, to his shock, Steve popped up beside the body.

_Bucky, what happened? Who is this?_

“I-I dunno, he tried to stab me, so I stabbed him. I-I’m freaking out. Meet me at our place?”

Steve nodded and Bucky turned to go to their hidden cove. When he got there Steve was already there, of course, but so was the body.

“Fuck, why’d you bring him over here?”

_I wanted to ask if it was ok to eat it?_

Bucky blinked in shock. He looked down at the body and then back to Steve.

“Oh. Uh,” Bucky said intelligently.

_If you don’t want me to I won’t, but, well, it’s already dead. There’s no sense in letting it go to waste._

“Well, when you put it like that, yeah, I guess so. Go on.”

_I’ll take it somewhere else, if you want._

“No, I feel like… I did this, so I shouldn’t shy away from it.”

_Ok._

Bucky watched as Steve took the first bite, tearing off a chunk of the guy’s leg and eating it. His eyes widened,

_Wow, this is like the best thing I’ve ever eaten._ He winced, looking toward Bucky with wide eyes, _Fuck, I’m so sorry Bucky, I shouldn’t have said that. Please don’t… don’t be afraid of me._

Bucky sighed, “Honestly, it doesn’t even bother me. I think at some point my ability to be freaked out by weird stuff was just burnt out of me. Humans taste good, awesome. Glad you like it.”

_Really?_

“Yeah. Apparently there’s absolutely nothing you can do that can freak me out or make me afraid of you. That’s love, I guess.”

Steve grinned at him, looking objectively horrifying with his bloody face and sharp teeth, but to Bucky he was just Steve.

Bucky sat there watching as Steve continued his meal until the silence got to be too much. Bucky said the first thing that came to his mind,

“How much will you be able to eat at once?”

_I can actually eat a lot at once, almost half my bodyweight, but obviously I don’t usually get the opportunity to do so._

“Wow, that is a lot.”

Over the next couple hours Bucky watched Steve steadily work his way up the body. Once he’d gotten to the organs he sighed and sat back for a moment, setting a hand on his stomach. It was bulging outward from the large meal.

_I haven’t had this much to eat in… ever. It feels good. Is this how you feel when you eat my eggs?_

Bucky honestly hadn’t made that connection until now.

“Something similar maybe. But for you this is just a meal, whereas what we do is much more.”

_I see. That makes sense._

He continued his meal, looking pleased. Bucky was glad that Steve was happy, that Steve wasn’t hungry. Bucky decided that compared to that, some asshole who tried to murder him wasn’t much. Maybe that was wrong, but it didn’t feel too wrong. Bucky loved Steve and he’d do anything to protect him, that wasn’t wrong.

Steve finished off the arms and moved into the chest, cracking the ribs apart and eating the heart and lungs. Then he sighed and sat back, laying down flat on his back.

_I’m full. That’s never happened to me before. It’s so nice._ He started making his contented noise, a low sort of humming in Bucky’s head. His hands came up to rub his own belly and he smiled in happiness. Bucky was so far beyond messed up it wasn’t funny, because Steve looked… adorable. He was covered in blood and his belly was swollen with the remains of a _person_ but Bucky couldn’t help but smile. It was just ingrained in him to be happy when Steve was happy.

Steve took the rest of the body down under the water, saying he’d put it in a good spot to attract more fish for him to eat later. He came back up, clean of blood and looking very pleased. He laid back on the rock with Bucky, looking at the stars. Bucky set a hesitant hand on his belly and rubbed it and Steve’s contented noise increased in volume.

He was a little shocked by how ok with all this he was. He’d just watched Steve eat someone and he didn’t even care. He was glad, even, that Steve was well-fed for once. What was wrong with him? Bucky didn’t think he was the kind of person who was ok with cannibalism, but it wasn’t, was it? Steve wasn’t human, he was a merperson, an alien. To him a human, a dead one at least, was just a meal. Living ones were different, but eating someone who was already dead held no moral qualms for Steve. And Bucky loved him still. Bucky had never had his love for anyone tested like this, but apparently his love for Steve was unshakable.

Bucky went home not long after that. When he saw Steve the next day his stomach was still just as swollen as it was before. He was content just to lie around for the day, gnawing on what appeared to be a leg bone, eating the marrow out of it. Bucky lay around with him, observing Steve. Steve looked good, he looked healthy. There was a glow about him, not a literal one like at night, but his skin had more color to it, a flush that was definitely a good thing. Bucky had thought that deathly pale was just Steve’s natural tone but apparently it was supposed to be much closer to human tone. Even Steve’s scales looked brighter, and his hair.

It took Steve nearly four weeks to digest his meal, during which he finished off the bone marrow, which according to him was highly nutritious. He continued to eat well on the fish attracted by the rest of the body, but soon enough the body was stripped bare.

Bucky thought a lot in the weeks after that. He brought Steve more small animals, but now that he knew that Steve was hungry most of the time he couldn’t ignore it. It was a constant itch in the back of his mind. Bucky’s eye fell on the people around him, and he began to watch. He zeroed in on a man named Gregory Pirelli, leader of the local chapter of the Italian mob. Everyone knew he was awful; they knew the things he did. He ran drugs and prostitutes, whatever made him money. Bucky heard stories, and he’d personally witnessed Pirelli beat one of his girls half to death. He’d wanted to help her so bad but there were three other guys there with guns and no problems with shooting people. Bucky had often talked with the girls who worked for him, and the horrors that they’d divulged to him sitting at bars in dancehalls while they waited for someone to pick them up… they were unspeakable.

He told Steve about him one day.

_That’s horrible! I-I can’t believe that anyone could be so heartless!_

“I can’t either.”

_So, why are you telling me about this, Bucky?_

“Well, I just- I was thinking. I’ve been thinking a lot, and I thought… I thought about luring him down to the docks and…”

_And what?_

“And… well, wouldn’t you say that he’s not a kind person?”

Steve looked confused for a second until his eyes widened in shock and understanding.

_Oh. Really?_

“Yeah. Do you think that makes me a bad person, Steve?”

_No. You’re not a bad person. You just… you see a wrong in the world and you think that maybe you can right it. And… I’m guessing that you want to take care of me, too?_

“Yeah. I hate that you’re hungry all the time Stevie.”

_It’s not wrong to want to take care of someone you love. If I could do something like that for you I would._

“Really? You’d kill one of your kind for me?”

_If they were very unkind, yes._

“So then… we’ll do it?”

_If you want. Just get him into the water and I’ll do the rest._

It was remarkably easy. He approached Pirelli when he was alone and lured him to the docks by saying that he was a dockworker, which was true of course, and he’d found a very interesting shipment that he’d be willing to let ‘disappear’ if Pirelli wanted it. Then he dumped Pirelli over the edge of the dock when he turned his back. Pirelli went in with a splash and didn’t come back up. Bucky walked away to their place where Steve was waiting. Pirelli was dead, presumably drowned.

“You ok?”

_Yeah. He didn’t hurt me or anything. This guy’s bigger than the other one._

Bucky sneered slightly, “Yeah, he got nice and fat off of all his blood money. Have at him.”

_With pleasure._

Bucky didn’t feel as bad about this one as he did the other man. He supposed it was because this time it was intentional rather than accidental, so Bucky had had time to prepare himself. Or maybe killing someone was just easier the second time? Bucky didn’t know.

They couldn’t do it that often, but every summer one or two people would just disappear. No one ever seemed to see the pattern, they just figured that they had left town or something. Steve was healthier, and in in turn he produced more eggs, which meant that Bucky was healthier.

When Bucky was eighteen he had moved into his own place. He loved his family and he sent all his extra money to them but not living with them anymore made Bucky’s life much easier. He didn’t have to hide where he disappeared to or his weight fluctuations. Honestly there was a lot less stress in Bucky’s life after he moved out. Living on his own also helped him keep from dropping below normal weight. Bucky could eat a meal without feeling guilty while looking at his sisters.

He grew three more inches during the previous year but he seemed to have topped out at 5’9. At the beginning of his first summer away from home he weighed about 170, which was almost entirely muscle. Bucky’s ‘base weight’ that he usually hovered around in the winter had been steadily increasing from added height and muscle. A week and a half after the third cycle of that summer he was at about 200, the highest he’d ever gotten. Unfortunately, there was apparently only so much muscle one could pack onto a body so those thirty pounds were pretty much just fat. Bucky liked how he looked, the weight settled in all the right places, in Bucky’s opinion.

There was a lot on his belly but a considerable amount of it was on his ass and thighs, which Bucky felt looked great. Bucky enjoyed walking around his tiny apartment in just his underwear and admiring himself in the mirror. Unfortunately, on one particular morning Bucky wandered into his kitchen like that, forgetting that a friend of his from work, Jack Monterey, was sleeping on his couch. Bucky was grabbing coffee when he heard Jack sit up on the couch. Shit. Bucky looked at him calmly, and Jack looked him up and down in confusion. Bucky often worked without a shirt on in the spring, so he knew that Jack could see a very distinct difference in his physique.

“Woah, you look really- uh, healthy,” Jack said. Bucky rolled his eyes.

“You can say I look bigger, Jack, I’m aware.”

“Ok, yeah, you’re way bigger. What the hell happened? Are you ill or something?”

“No, I’m not ill. Don’t you usually lose weight when you’re ill?” Bucky turned away from Jack and continued to make his coffee.

“Yeah, but I got a cousin with allergies, if he even looks at shrimp he like gets all puffy. I guess that was a stupid question, though, huh?”

“Little bit.”

“So, I mean, what’s up? You didn’t look like this four months ago, I know.”

“I’m like a bear, I bulk up during the summer to last me through the winter,” Bucky said lightly.

“Yeah but on what? I know you send your extra money to your family so I can’t see you buying extra food, not enough to account for this, certainly.”

“I’m getting food from somewhere else.”

“Oh, shit, it’s not the mob or anything, is it?”

Bucky snorted, “No, the mob isn’t giving me food, that doesn’t even make sense. It’s nothing bad, I promise. It’s good, it’s real good,” Bucky said, turning to smile at Jack.

“Oh, I see. You got some sorta rich woman who’s feedin’ ya up, huh?”

Bucky snorted, “Yeah, something along those lines. She likes larger men,” Bucky said with a leer. Jack rolled his eyes.

“Well, I’d say you’re probably making her happy, then. How much have you gained?”

“Since May? About thirty pounds.”

“Thirty? Damn. I’m surprised you’re not showing all this off, you look proud enough of it,” Jack said, waving a hand to indicate Bucky.

Bucky grinned at him, “Hey, I know I look good, but it’s a bit hard to explain gaining thirty pounds in four months.”

“I gotta admit it kinda suits ya. Yeah, that sounds unsafe or something. You sure you’re alright?”

“I’m fine, I promise. I appreciate your concern though.”

“Just don’t get so fat you can’t do your job, huh?” Jack said.

“You wanna go, Jack? I can still take you, I promise,” Bucky said, grinning.

“I dunno if you could catch me, honestly,” Jack said, standing up and bouncing on his toes. Bucky tackled him in an instant, wrestling him to the floor and siting on him. Jack wheezed beneath him,

“Fucking… shit… how much do you weigh man? Get off me.”

“I’m at 200 right now.”

“Jesus… you’re crushing me to death, Barnes, get off!” Jack said, trying to throw Bucky off. Bucky laughed and got off of him. Jack took a couple of deep breaths. “Alright, you can still take me in a fight.”

“And don’t you forget it.”

Bucky made sure to at least wear pants in the apartment after that, but honestly it was too hot to wear a shirt in his own house, so he didn’t. Eventually Jack found a place and left, and Bucky was a bit sad to see him go. During the winter especially Bucky often grew lonely.

The summer of 1943 things changed again. Bucky looked at Steve sadly.

“I got drafted, Stevie. They’re sending me off to join the war.”

_What?! No! You can’t, what if you die?_

“I don’t have a choice Steve, not unless I wanna move to Canada.”

_Ok. Ok. You come back safe or I’m gonna kick your ass, Barnes._

“Ok. I’m in the 107th so look for news about us in the paper, those fly into the ocean a lot, right?”

_Yeah. I can usually find a mostly intact one._

Bucky left and Steve hunted for newspapers religiously. When he saw that most of the 107th had been captured or killed his heart cracked. But then he saw that someone the newspapers had been calling ‘Captain America’ had escaped capture, rescued all the POWs, and then blown up the base. When the paper printed the picture of the guy Steve almost choked. It was Bucky. Bucky was ok! He read everything he could find about Captain America, how he was tearing a path across Europe and bringing Hydra to its knees. He just hoped Bucky was alright.

Getting captured had been unpleasant to say the least. Being locked in a cage with six other guys was not Bucky’s idea of fun. Then one day that fucker Zola came in with another scientist. Bucky could tell that the other scientist didn’t want to be there any more than Bucky did. Zola ordered the guards to grab one of them but the man stopped him with a hand on his arm,

“Please, let me pick the subject. If you’re going to pick one at random then it shouldn’t matter who I pick, right?”

Zola rolled his eyes and waved his hand dismissively. “Fine, but be quick.”

The scientist strolled forward closer to the line of cages.

“I need a volunteer for a highly dangerous and painful experimental procedure. If no one volunteers then I will pick the weakest looking one among you.”

Bucky’s mind flashed to the kids that were captured with him, a lot of them just 18 years old. There were several smaller ones that reminded him so much of Steve. Bucky was strong, he could take pain better than them. Bucky stood up in his cage,

“Take me,” Bucky said, ignoring the hisses of ‘Are you crazy? Sit down!’

The scientist looked to Zola and indicated Bucky. Bucky was removed from his cage and hauled into a room. Zola left and Bucky and the scientist were alone. He indicated for Bucky to lie on a metal table and Bucky did warily. The scientist began to speak to him as he strapped him into the machine, lowly and quickly.

“My name is Dr. Abraham Erskine. I’m a prisoner here, too. They want my serum, my super soldier serum. I tried to hold out, I did, but their tortures are… inventive.” The man, Erskine, looked haunted. “I gave them the formula, and now they want me to test it on you. But I didn’t give them the real formula. What I gave them will kill anyone who uses it.” Bucky’s eyes widened in alarm. “Don’t worry, that’s not what I’m giving you. I switched it out for the real formula. It’ll make you strong, really strong, and when it works you need to fight, do you understand? The serum enhances what’s on the inside, good and bad. That little display earlier was to find someone whom I hope is a good man, someone who wants to protect. Are you a good man?”

Bucky swallowed. “I don’t know. I try to be, but I’ve killed people. A lot of them.”

“What were you thinking when you volunteered?”

“That I could take it and those kids couldn’t. Better me than them.”

“I think that I found a good man. Will you fight?”

“Assuming I don’t die from this, yes. I’ll fight.”

They locked him in a metal coffin thing and turned the machine on. Bucky felt every molecule of his being get lit on fire. He was going to die, he was going to burn up!

It stopped and Bucky was still alive. He lay there panting and dazed. When they took the cuffs of the machine off of him he intentionally went limp and fell over like he’d been fucked up big time by the machine. He felt several pairs of arms lifting him up and that was when he struck. He grabbed a gun and dove behind the machine. He hoped that Erskine had enough sense to get to cover. Bucky started shooting and he took out all the guards in the room. He went to Erskine and saw that he’d been hit in the gut. Bucky knew from the sight of him that he was dead already. It could take hours for a wound like that to kill someone, slowly and painfully. Bucky knelt beside him.

“I swear to you that I’ll get everyone out. I will be as good as I can be, and I’ll protect everyone I can. I’ll tell everyone what you did here, I’ll tell them that you’re the one who saved everyone. I’ll make sure that they know that you never broke, that you kept fighting. You’re not gonna make it with a wound like that, Doctor, do you understand?”

“I… I know… I know you’ll do good… I know what a… mortal wound… looks like…”

“It’ll take hours. It’ll be painful. Do you want this?” Bucky held up the gun. Erskine looked at it with fear in his eyes but he nodded.

“I’ll do what’s right, doc. And I’ll avenge you,” Bucky said quietly. He put the gun to Erskine’s temple and pulled the trigger. Bucky felt a tear fall from his eye but he wiped it away. There was no time for that now. Bucky got all the men out and the base blew up, though no one knew if they had done it or if it was some sort of self-destruct thing. They took credit for it anyway. Bucky was wearing too-small clothes he’d stolen from a guard.

Bucky felt so strange, he definitely felt stronger. In the fight he’d hit people with his full strength and absolutely sickening things had happened to them. He felt like his muscle mass had increased somewhat but he also felt… denser. Like his muscles and bones were more compact. He felt a little sad at the thought that these might not be exactly the same muscles he’d had before; the ones Steve’s eggs had helped him build. One of the guys from his cage, Jim Morita, came up to him as they were walking back.

“Hey, Sarge, what happened to you? I think you got… broader,” he said, indicating Bucky’s shoulders.

“The doctor was there against his will, they were making him test a super soldier formula. He asked for a volunteer because he said he was looking for a good man. He told me to fight. He didn’t make it out though.”

“I think he got the best guy for the job.”

“I’m gonna take Hydra down. They can’t get away with doing this to people.”

“I’m with you.”

They started calling him Captain America in the papers, which was the most ridiculous thing Bucky had ever heard in his life. He wasn’t even a captain for fuck’s sake! But at least that meant that Steve knew that Bucky was alright.

Bucky sighed and stared at the ocean. In this light it was almost the exact shade of Steve’s eyes. Fuck, he was pining like some dime-novel heroine.

“Thinking about your girl Cap?”

Bucky jumped, his hand twitching toward his sidearm, before he relaxed back against the tree with a tired sigh.

“You know I don’t have a girl, Dugan.”

“I know you _said_ that, but there’s only one thing that makes a man stare wistfully at the ocean and sigh.”

“Fine. Yeah,” Bucky said. He was so tired he didn’t have the energy to lie anymore.

“Ha! What’s her name?”

“…Stephanie…” Bucky said. He figured Steve would forgive him for calling him a woman since for one, Steve didn’t want Bucky to be arrested, and for two, Steve wasn’t even a man anyway, and he’d said on more than one occasion that he really didn’t care.

“What’s she look like?”

“She’s a tiny thing, a can practically wrap my hands around her waist, but she’s fierce. Her eyes are just about that color out there,” Bucky said, pointing at the ocean, “And her hair is gold like sunshine.” Bucky smiled at his private joke.

Bucky ended up talking about ‘Stephanie’ a lot. He talked about how the injustices of the world angered ‘her’. He lied and said they were gonna get married when Bucky got home. Honestly, he had been thinking about getting Steve something like a ring, since Steve couldn’t wear rings, maybe a bracelet. He’d already declared that he was gonna stay with him forever and if that wasn’t marriage Bucky didn’t know what was.

Bucky was eating his rations while sitting on a log and he couldn’t figure out why people were staring at him like that. He looked to Dugan who was standing a bit away from him and asked,

“What? What is it? Why are you all giving me that look?”

“Well, uh, I dunno if you noticed, but you’re eating like three feet from a dead guy.”

Bucky looked beside him to where there was indeed a dead body laying by the log, one of the enemy. Bucky shrugged,

“I barely noticed him. It’s not like it smells or anything, he was just killed.”

“Well, yeah, but… it’s still kinda gross.”

Bucky thought to all of the times when he’d eaten a sandwich or something while Steve ate a dead body. Bucky shrugged again,

“I’ve seen grosser stuff. It doesn’t really bother me.”

Bucky gained a rather interesting reputation for being completely unshakable after that.

Bucky shoved Zola off a train and told the higher ups he fell.

Then came the plane, and Bucky had to take it down.

_Sorry, Stevie, I guess I’m joining you in the ocean after all, _he thought as he headed towards the ice.

Steve was numb. Captain America, Bucky, had crashed a plane into the ocean to save several million lives. Steve was all alone in this world.Faced with years of solitude ahead of him Steve knew what he had to do. He swam north for miles and miles, only stopping briefly to eat and sleep. He was cold, so cold, but as long as he just kept moving he was fine.

Steve didn’t know how he found it but he did, a plane resting on the bottom of the ocean. Steve couldn’t feel his entire body. He went around to the front and entered through the shattered window. There, floating listlessly in the captain’s chair, was Bucky. He didn’t even look dead, he looked pale and serene, his hair floating around his face, his clothes billowing around him. Steve looked around and picked out a nice spot, curling up in a corner around Bucky and succumbing to the cold.

They found Captain America. Coulson could hardly believe Fury when he’d told him. But then, even more surprising, they’d found something… else. Coulson thought it was funny how hard everyone was trying not to say the word ‘mermaid’. But that was what it appeared to be from the scans they’d done of the block of ice. The mermaid was curled around the Captain almost… lovingly, that was really the only word to describe it, face to face with him like a pair of parenthesis, their foreheads touching. A lot of agents were a little freaked out but Coulson actually thought it was pretty cute. He really wished he knew the story behind this. After a lot of pictures and scans they put the ice block in a warmer. It would take it a day to slowly defrost the ice so Coulson left to go deal with whatever was happening in New Mexico.

Bucky woke disoriented and-the fuck? He was cold as fuck, and partially encased in something. Concrete? He couldn’t open his eyes, his eyelids were stuck together. He moved his arm with great effort and it came out of the-ice. He was covered in ice. What the _fuck_? Bucky was confused, he couldn’t really remember how he’d gotten here, everything was all mixed up. He pulled one of his eyes open as delicately as he could but it still hurt like a bitch.

Holy shit Steve! Steve was like right in front of his face, eyes closed, also covered in ice. Bucky looked behind Steve to see what looked like some sort of… heating things? Bucky thought that he could feel the heat. After looking to make sure he wouldn’t hurt Steve Bucky wrenched himself from the ice, which fucking hurt. He stood right next to the heating bits and brushed more ice off of him. Then he went to Steve. He knew Steve was tough but could he survive being completely frozen? Bucky’s heart seized. Steve couldn’t be dead, he couldn’t be. Suddenly Steve gasped a breath and Bucky let out a sigh of relief. He gently put a hand on Steve’s shoulder and Steve jolted awake.

_Bucky-what-what’s going on?_

“I dunno Stevie we were frozen and now we’re in some sorta oven.”

_Are they cooking us?!_

“No, no, Stevie, I think they were defrosting us.”

_Oh. Oh shit! They must have seen me, oh shit, we gotta get out of here!_

“Ok Stevie but let’s get you defrosted a little more, ok?”

Bucky helped extricate Steve from the ice and he held Steve in his arms and stood in front of the heating coils.

_You’re strong, Buck. Stronger than I remember. Did you get bigger?_

“Everything’s real fuzzy right now but I think something happened to me to make me stronger. It was bad but I turned it into something good.”

_Ok, I’m warm enough, we need to _go_!_

“Ok Stevie, hold onto my neck, I might need one arm to fight,” Bucky said. They got adjusted and Bucky looked toward the door to the machine. He took a deep breath and kicked it open, rushing out. He was confronted with several people in lab coats and utterly shocked expressions on their faces. Then they started screaming. Bucky thought he saw one of them faint.

Bucky swiped a scalpel of some kind from a nearby table and took off running, clutching Steve tightly with his left hand. Bucky had no idea where he was or how to get out, there were no signs or anything. An alarm started going off and several guys in tac gear and helmets came out to block his path. There were more the other way. He was cornered. Was this Hydra? Slowly Bucky lowered Steve to the floor where he scooted to the side, pressing himself against the wall. Bucky took a fighting stance, brandishing the knife.

“You wanna fight you got one motherfuckers! Come on!”

The tac guys didn’t move. Bucky didn’t know what to do. If he attacked they’d start shooting and Steve would probably get hit.

“That won’t be necessary, Captain,” a black man with an eyepatch said, stepping out from behind the line of guys.

“What the fuck is going on here? Are you Hydra?”

“We’re not Hydra. Do you remember putting that plane down in the arctic?”

Bucky did once he said it. Oh. OH. He must have gone down, and then Steve-

Bucky whirled on Steve, furious, “You fuckin’ idiot! What the fuck were you hoping to accomplish?!” he hissed. Steve wouldn’t look at him.

_What was I supposed to do, Buck? You were DEAD._

Bucky was stricken. They would have to talk later. Bucky turned back to the eyepatch guy, “Yeah, I remember.”

“Well you and your friend there froze. That was seventy years ago.”

Bucky gaped at him. Then his eyes narrowed. “Prove it.”

The guy stepped forward and Bucky took a step back, standing over Steve. Eyepatch handed him a rectangle and told him to push the button on the side. It lit up, displaying the date and time. Bucky was so shocked he almost dropped the thing. What was it? How did it work? It was so small.

“That’s a phone,” Eyepatch said.

“Woah. How does it work?”

“Why don’t we go somewhere else and we’ll explain everything. Your friend, he got a name?”

“Steve. I’m not dumb, you know. I saw all of this,” he held up the knife, “in the room we were in. You were gonna cut him up.” Bucky heard Steve growl in his mind.

“We were gonna cut you both up. But seeing as you’re both alive I’d very much like to keep you that way.”

“That’s only if we cooperate, though, right? Who the hell are you? Where are we?”

“I’m Director Nick Fury, and we’re in SHIELD HQ in New York City. Please come, we’ll talk.”

“Oh. I’m home, huh?”

“Yes. Come on.”

Bucky picked up Steve and they cautiously walked to an entirely new area. He opened a door and then Bucky was looking at a very deep and large pool. There was a huge fake rock in the middle of it and several smaller but still quite large rocks scattered about. He blinked his eyes in surprise. This pool was really nifty.

“We use this for dive training, it’s saltwater, there shouldn’t be any chemicals in there that there aren’t in the ocean,” Fury said. Bucky sat Steve on the edge and he tasted the water. It seemed alright. Bucky nodded at Steve and he jumped in, doing a quick lap.

_There’s no tubes or openings I can use to escape. I think I found a bullet casing though. What the fuck do they do in this pool?_

Bucky turned to Fury,

“So, what do you want?”

“Well, right now I’m pretty curious about whatever creature Steve is.”

“I’ve just been calling him a merperson. But he’s an alien.”

“Right, that’s gonna go over well. But now that you’re alive I’m thinking that you would be perfect for a program I’m putting together called-”

“The only way I’m doing anything for you is if I know Steve isn’t going to be studied.”

“Captain, you have to understand that he’s an entirely new species, the scientific-”

“I don’t care! He isn’t going to be studied in some lab!”

“Even just a few blood samples-.”

“Over my dead goddamn body,” Bucky growled, low and dangerous.

“Alright, fine, I tried. Is he dangerous?”

“What? No, of course not.” Bucky knew that Steve ate people, but he would never do it to someone who didn’t deserve it. Bucky was way more dangerous and they weren’t asking about him.

“Then we’ll leave him alone. I promised the scientific division that they’d get a chance to study him so I had to say that I made my best effort to persuade you. I got enough problems, a damn Asgardian just had a grudge match in New Mexico with some giant robot, the Hulk tore up Harlem, Stark’s off his rocker- I really, really do not need mermen right now.”

“What’s an Asgardian?” Bucky asked, playing dumb. An Asgardian had come here and these guys knew about it?

“Some damn alien from a place called Asgard, his name’s Thor.”

_Thor?! Holy shit he’s the prince of Asgard!_

“Asgard, huh?”

“Yeah. Look, are we good now? I promise your friend won’t be studied but I think he could be a valuable agent. SHIELD helps people, and having someone like him could prove very useful.”

“We’re good. I’ll get back to you on him being an agent. But I swear to God if any of you try to hurt him in any way I’ll burn your entire organization to the ground.”

“That won’t be necessary. Ok, I have a lot to deal with right now, can I leave you two alone here without you trying to run off again? What were you gonna do, carry a merman through the streets of New York?”

“It’s New York. I’m sure they’ve seen weirder.”

“Point. We’ll bring you food and stuff, I assume he eats fish?”

“Salmon is his favorite, uncooked, of course.”

“Right. Someone will be down here to feed you and handle all this crap, I gotta go keep the planet from getting blown up.”

With that he left. Bucky shrugged and stripped down to his skivvies and got in the water.

_Hey, Bucky, I had a thought._

Bucky raised an eyebrow.

_Don’t get mad again, but when I found you you were underwater, it was probably two days since the crash. Even if being frozen somehow could have kept you alive all this time, it wouldn’t have mattered if you were dead when you froze. I think that the crash just knocked you unconscious and then the cold kept you like that, but I think you must have been breathing._

An alarmed look crossed Bucky’s face and he looked down at the water. He casually felt along his ribs, looking for-holy shit. It was just barely there, a fine slit in his side. Gills. Bucky nodded subtly and Steve’s eyes widened.

_I wonder when that happened? Do you think it was the eggs?_

“Yeah, maybe. Holy shit.”

_Don’t tell them. It could come in handy to have an ability they don’t know about, just in case these guys aren’t on the up-and-up. But they said they had contact with Thor, so they know about aliens. They may be safe to tell some things. But I don’t trust them not to try and eradicate my kind. Humans have a tendency to do that._

Bucky sighed, “Yeah, I know. We’ll play it by ear. They definitely know you exist now though.”

_The rest of my kind will probably be pissed if they find out. Though if they wanted me to follow their rules they shouldn’t have banished me._

“I agree, fuck those guys. What are we gonna do if you… have a problem, while we’re here?” Bucky eyed Steve’s stomach significantly.

_I’ll just re-absorb them. It’ll suck but that’s how it’s gotta be. Though with our luck they’ll want to steal them and try to grow more of my kind._

“Good luck with that, huh?”

The door opened and someone walked in, a young woman with red hair. At first Bucky thought they might have chosen her because she looked non-threatening but when she started walking toward the pool he realized that they’d sent her because she could probably kill him with her bare hands, or at least make a good effort of it. And Bucky was in his skivvies. Great. He smiled confidently like he was in his best suit, though.

“So, they sent you to deliver food? Something tells me that’s a little below your paygrade.”

The woman raised an eyebrow at him, “I’m also here to keep an eye on you two fossils. It’s my day off, so if you make my life hard I’ll make yours painful.”

“Hey, I wasn’t planning on it, promise.”

She snorted and set down the tray of food. Apparently both he and Steve were getting salmon. Bucky and Steve both looked at the food suspiciously. The woman produced a knife and cut off pieces from each plate and ate them. After that Bucky and Steve dug in appreciatively with a grateful smile to the woman. Once they were finished Bucky looked at her,

“So, what’s your name? What do you usually do around here?”

“Natasha. I’m an assassin.”

“Woah, really?”

“Yep.”

“I bet you’re good at it.”

Natasha smiled, “One of the best.”

“So, I was right about this being below your paygrade.”

“They decided a female agent would be best in order to set you at ease. I was the only female agent on base with a high enough clearance who wasn’t extremely busy.”

Bucky snorted, “Put us at ease, yeah. Why did they think that would work, exactly? Anyone could tell you’re dangerous.”

Natasha smiled at him, “Actually they usually can’t. I have to say I’m a bit impressed, you saw through me immediately.”

“I’m a pretty impressive guy, once you get to know me. So, it’s your day off, huh? You wanna get in for a swim? I’m not trying to pull anything, promise.”

“Pull anything as in escape or pull anything as in hit on me?”

“Oh, uh, I guess it did sound like I was hitting on you, huh? I’m not, promise. My priorities are elsewhere right now. It’s not an escape attempt either.”

Natasha smiled at him and started taking her shirt off. Bucky and Steve immediately turned around.

_Is she getting naked?!_ Steve asked frantically.

Bucky shrugged.

“You don’t have to turn around, I’m wearing a bathing suit.”

“Oh, why are you wearing a-” Bucky stopped as he saw what she was wearing. It was just some small patches of fabric held together by _string_ holy _shit_. “Is that what all bathing suits are like in the future?”

She smirked at him, “Not all of them. But some. To answer your other question, I had considered the possibility that you would ask me to join you. Then I could use this to my advantage to seduce you more fully to our side, but I can see that’s not going to work. So, I’ll just have a nice swim,” she said, slipping into the water. Steve was still gaping at her, eyes wide and mouth barely parted. Bucky smacked him on the arm but Steve didn’t pay him any attention.

“I apologize for him, I think this is the most he’s ever seen of a human woman. Actually, this is the closest he’s ever been to one, so.”

Natasha smirked at him, “Your name is Steve, right?” Steve nodded, closing his mouth and tearing his eyes away from her, looking down. “You have telepathy, right? Is there a reason you can only talk to Barnes or is it just choice?”

_Can we trust you?_ Steve asked and Bucky could tell, somehow, that Natasha was getting the message as well.

“That’s a complicated question. I personally want to help you, and I believe that Fury does, too. But if I’m ordered to take you out I will. The list of people I would defy orders for is extremely short. But I really doubt that will happen. We’re not Hydra, we don’t experiment on people, we help them. SHIELD wants to use you, obviously, but they take very good care of their agents, and that you can trust me on. I originally worked for the KGB-an enemy organization, before one of SHIELD’s agents was hired to kill me. He made a different call and brought me in, and now he’s my partner.”

“Huh. That is a pretty compelling story, if it’s true.”

“I hope that you’ll come to believe me.”

Meanwhile Steve kept flicking glances at Natasha. Bucky recognized that look. That was the look Steve had given him before asking if he could touch his legs and feet when they were twelve.

“Steve, no,” Bucky said. Steve sniffed indignantly but didn’t say anything. He continued to give Natasha occasional looks though. Natasha smirked at him,

“Do you want to touch me, Steve?”

Steve nodded.

“Steve you should explain your intentions a little better,” Bucky said, exasperated.

“I get it, he’s never seen a woman, he wants to… examine me,” Natasha said. She seemed to find this incredibly amusing. “But only if I get to return the favor.”

Bucky grinned at him, “I wouldn’t pass up on that opportunity, Stevie.”

Steve smiled and swam over to Natasha. He started with her feet and worked his way up, examining her. He skimmed his hands along the outsides of her thighs, up her hips, and to her sides.

_It’s interesting how different you are from Bucky._

Then he put his hands _directly on her breasts _andstarted_ **squishing them**_. Bucky made a choking sound, unable to speak, but Natasha didn’t seem to mind. Bucky’s horror at Steve’s actions was almost physically painful.

_What are these? What are they for? Why doesn’t Bucky have them?_

“They’re breasts, when a woman has a baby they produce milk and she feeds the baby with it. Bucky doesn’t have him because he doesn’t carry the baby. For future reference, it’s really not appropriate to touch them,” she said in a calm clinical manner.

Steve dropped his hands like he’d been burned, blushing furiously.

_I-I’m so sorry. I didn’t-_

“It’s fine, I was pretty sure that was gonna happen, so it was fine. Just don’t do it in the future, that was a one-time deal. So, my turn?”

Steve nodded, sitting down on the rock formation. Natasha started from Steve’s tail fins, examining them closely, running her hands down his scales. Bucky supposed he ought to be jealous but honestly it was a little hot. She looked at the webbing between Steve’s fingers.

“Can I see the fin on your back?” she asked. Steve obligingly flipped over and examined the large, thin fin. She pulled it up and down and Steve obligingly moved it for her, flaring it out. She moved and sat back down and Steve turned over.

“Congratulations, you’re now the second foremost expert on merperson biology,” Bucky said with a smile.

“I assume you’re the foremost expert?”

“Yep.”

“So, you’ve seen a lot of his… biology.”

Bucky kept his face neutral, pretending not to get her innuendo. “Yep, I was there to watch him grow up so I’m the most experienced.”

Natasha rolled her eyes and Bucky could tell she didn’t believe him. He panicked internally.

“Relax, Barnes. I don’t care if you’re making time with the alien.”

Steve choked in shock. Nice job keeping cool there Stevie.

“What gave it away?”

“Well, for one, I saw how you two were curled up together in the ice. Also, people have studied you, Barnes, you’re a part of history. I’ve read transcripts of interviews with the other Howling Commandos and several of them mention you waxing poetic about someone named ‘Stephanie’ that no one could ever find.”

“Oh, fuck, so everyone knows?”

“A lot of people can probably guess. So, I gotta ask, do you like men, women, both, or is it just mermen?” Natasha asked with a smirk.

“Well, I mean, I appreciate a good-looking woman, or man, but Steve’s been… he’s been the only one for me since I met him.”

“Just for the record, homosexuality isn’t illegal anymore. There’s still a lot of people who don’t like it, but the tides are changing. People who like men and women are called bisexual. There’s been a lot of social progress in terms of race and gender, but from what I know about your team I don’t think you’ll find it too hard to deal with.”

“Are they… I mean, it’s been…”

“Yes. They all survived the war but they’ve all passed. They lived good lives, most of them have children and grandchildren. I’m sorry.”

“Me too. But I can’t go back. My family?”

“You have some nieces and nephews, but no one else.”

“Well, I guess we’re in the same boat now, Stevie,” Bucky said with a weak smile. Steve came over and hugged him tightly.

“There’s a cave hidden in the rock, there’s air inside,” Natasha said quietly.

“Thank you,” Bucky said. Bucky and Steve found the cave. They curled up together under the water and Bucky cried silently while Steve held him. Bucky couldn’t even marvel at the fact that he was breathing underwater. Steve knew exactly what he was going through. In a sense, Bucky had been banished, too. He could never go back to his world so he would have to make a new life here like Steve had done. At least he had Steve, so he wouldn’t be alone.

Natasha was doing slow laps in the pool when they emerged.

“So, do you think they’ll really leave Steve alone?”

“Yeah. What Fury said is honestly the truth, as long as your kind aren’t causing trouble we really don’t care. You’re right to be cautious, believe me I get it, but we are the good guys.”

Gradually Bucky came to believe her. Bucky and Steve ended up sticking around for a while as they were caught up in modern technology and the modern world. They were both fascinated. Steve squealed with delight when they gave him a tablet full of _books_ that he could _take underwater holy shit Buck are you seeing this?_ They sort of claimed the training pool as their home and eventually Steve started doing underwater training for baby SHIELD agents. It was supremely gratifying to see them scream in terror when Steve would come up from the depths of the pool to grab them.

Steve had insisted that a shark or two would really add to the ambiance but he was denied. They probably did it on principal and not because they knew Steve just wanted to eat the sharks. Bucky was also doing training in hand-to-hand and sharpshooting, and was being trained by Natasha in modern combat techniques. The amount of hero worship he had to put up with should have awarded him hazard pay, but he managed to beat that out of them before long. Bucky liked it, though, he enjoyed teaching. They’d floated the idea of having him do missions but he’d told them flat out that he didn’t trust them enough to leave Steve alone for that long. They were more than getting their use out of him as a teacher, though, Bucky was whipping their agents into shape whether they liked it or not.

Then Bucky finally got something in that he’d been waiting on in the mail. SHIELD paid him and Steve, though they just put Steve’s money in the same account since he wasn’t going to be going to a store or the bank. He did have a weakness for Amazon though, and it was kind of hilarious to have them delivering swimming fish toys to a nominally secret intelligence organization. Bucky collected the items from the mail room with glee. He couldn’t exactly do it how he wanted since Steve couldn’t leave their pool, so he’d have to make do. He hopped into the water with his prize clutched in his hand. He grinned at Steve, who smiled back at him, looking confused.

_What’s got you in such a good mood?_

Bucky stood up to speak and Steve surfaced with him.

“Stevie. I already said I’d stay with you forever. And I know your people don’t stand much on ceremony, but I got us these,” he said, holding out his hand and revealing two bracelets, since Steve couldn’t wear rings. They were simple titanium bands with small inlays of mother of pearl. “We can’t have a ceremony, really, but we don’t need that to be married, so, will you be mine?”

Steve looked like he might be crying. Bucky felt the waves of emotion that rolled off him that counted as him crying, but this was with joy. He nodded wordlessly and carefully put the bracelet on and tightened it up as Bucky did the same.

_Of course I’m yours, and I always will be, for whatever comes, we’ll face it together._

But then, inevitably, Steve’s cycle came. It had taken a long time, probably due to the whole freezing/thawing shock to his system. Steve was pretty sure that the surge of romantic feelings brought on by Bucky’s proposal had triggered it, he had a mate so now it was time to make babies, obviously. Bucky went to Natasha.

“Natasha, I know there are cameras in the pool, but I need you to swear to me that there’s not any in the cave, or any audio stuff. If there are I need them gone.”

“There isn’t anything in the cave. They wanted to put one in there but I told them that you weren’t prisoners and you deserved some privacy. A few had to be persuaded, but my reputation opens doors for me.”

“Swear it to me on something important.”

“Clint. I swear it on Clint. I like my own privacy, Barnes, I try to make sure that the privacy of others is respected.”

“Ok, but I want you to make it known that if you’ve been lied to and there is a camera in there, there will be hell to pay, and I’m not joking around.”

“I’ll help you. Congratulations, by the way, I’m assuming that’s your version of a wedding band?” she asked with a smile, indicating his bracelet. He broke into a goofy grin.

“Yeah.”

“You preparing for the honeymoon, making sure there’s no cameras to witness your torrid interspecies sexcapades?” she said with a smirk. Bucky snorted.

“Pretty much.”

Bucky went to Steve in their cave. The entrance to it was underwater and it led up to a cavern in the rock. Inside the cavern there was enough room for Bucky to stand, when he did the water was about up to his chest. The cavern was round, about ten feet in diameter, plenty of room. There were lights overhead but they were low. There was a high shelf in one wall with only a few inches of water on it. They had plastic baskets for their meagre possessions and SHIELD had laid down some sort of jelly-rubber mat thing for them to lie on. Well they thought it was just for Steve but Bucky laid on it as well.

At first Bucky had slept on a cot by the pool, sometimes with Steve joining him, but eventually he’d just given up and started sleeping in the cave. Bucky had no idea what they thought of that. He guessed they assumed that he was sleeping on the shelf and just hoping he didn’t roll onto his front and drown. When they had first gotten there the pool was cold to simulate the ocean but once Steve and Bucky had started living there they turned the temperature up to a very pleasant seventy degrees. Bucky stood up to talk to Steve.

“Natasha swore on Clint that there was no surveillance in this cave,” Bucky said. Steve smiled gratefully. Bucky looked slightly upward, “And if there IS then both she and I are going to have a very nice chat with anyone listening in!” he said loudly. Steve rolled his eyes at him. Bucky sat down and rubbed Steve’s stomach. It was still completely flat but they both enjoyed doing this.

_I was thinking that, if you wanted, instead of me re-absorbing them, you could eat them very gradually. Enough so that it won’t show._

Despite the fact that they now mostly trusted SHIELD, they didn’t trust them with this. That and the fact that Natasha had been showing them a variety of alien and mermaid media, and _Alien_ was on that list. After that they both felt even more strongly that this should be kept secret. If they found out that Steve was implanting alien eggs in him they might freak out a little.

‘Won’t that be frustrating for you?’ Bucky signed. Clint had taught both of them sign language, which was extremely useful.

_No, I kind of… like it, sort of. It’s like how you feel about getting all stretched out, it doesn’t really feel good on some levels but on others it does. I like the idea of you being in command. Of you controlling how many I lay and when. You controlling how much pleasure I feel._

Bucky grinned wickedly, contemplating that. He continued to rub Steve’s belly until the two of them went to sleep. The next day Bucky realized a slight problem.

‘Once you get big enough you won’t fit in the tunnel,’ Bucky signed.

_Oh. Well, I wasn’t planning on leaving anyway, but I really don’t like the idea that I can’t. We’ll make the tunnel bigger once we’re through with this cycle._

‘We should get a door, too.’

On the fifth day of Steve’s cycle their evening of watching Netflix was interrupted by the sound of splashing. Baffled, Bucky slipped out and went to stealthily investigate the sound. There was a group of young people, maybe college-age, splashing around and giggling in the shallow end of the pool.

“I can’t believe SHIELD has a secret pool, good find.”

“Yeah, they only use it for training on occasion and all other times it’s off-limits, which is a shame, really.”

Bucky grinned manically. He went back in and grabbed Steve’s ‘sea monster’ costume, which was basically a blanket of fake sea weeds that Steve would tie on him to make him look scarier. He quickly signed the situation to Steve who grinned, too, sharp teeth flashing in the low light. Bucky tied on the costume and went out. He started making splashing sounds then moving before he was seen. The kids started to freak out a little. At night all the lights were turned off in the pool so Bucky could swim right by them, letting the fronds of the costume brush past some legs.

The screech of ‘Something just touched me!’ was extremely gratifying, especially knowing Steve could hear it. Just when they were swimming for the edges Bucky crawled up over a rock and gave his best monster sound, which was a sort of growling, gurgling sound. The screams were piercing as they fled the pool, leaving their clothes. Once they were gone Bucky grabbed their wallets and put them on top of the big rock, to make sure they would have to come back. Steve was supremely amused by Bucky’s impressions of their faces.

The next day Bucky sat on the big rock and waited. Early in the morning the group slunk into the room. They caught sight of Bucky and froze. Bucky crooked a finger at them and they slowly walked forward. Bucky was wearing the costume still but it was pulled back off his head so the group could immediately tell what happened last night. They all looked beyond embarrassed.

“So, I was doing some undersea night ops training and then what do I find but a group of young agents playing around in the pool. I get it, I do, the pool is awesome, it looks so inviting, but it’s really not for playing. Areas are restricted for a reason.”

“Why is this area restricted?”

“That’s classified.” Bucky had always wanted to say that.

“We’re really sorry,” one of them ventured. They all quickly agreed.

“I’m sure you are. We can keep this between us, and once you get above level six you’ll know why this area is restricted,” Bucky said as he tossed them their wallets back. Bucky gave them a lazy salute and jumped into the water, disappearing back into the cave. Bucky and Steve snickered at them wondering where the hell he went and who he even was.

Bucky spent the next few days rubbing Steve’s growing belly while they watched Netflix. Bucky went and got them food, of course, the SHIELD cafeteria had been instructed to give him raw fish and other meat whenever he came by. He used to borrow a stove and cook some himself but honestly it became such a hassle that he just started eating it raw like Steve. It actually wasn’t that bad, and Bucky felt fine, so he figured it was alright. The serum would keep him from any bacteria. They were going through a lot of meat but he figured SHIELD was good for it.

They also had their own small kelp forest. It was more of a kelp copse, really. SHIELD had had fake kelp there before, but with Bucky and Steve there to tend it they’d replaced it with real kelp which was flourishing. According to the doctors at SHIELD kelp was like this amazing superfood full of like tons of vitamins and shit. He went to get checkups every once in a while, and apparently he could thrive on the ‘merman diet’ and was healthier than ever. They were shocked when he told them that and figured it must be some adaptation of the serum. Bucky was pretty sure it was Steve though. They also couldn’t understand why he wasn’t experiencing some sort of ill effect from living in the water. Bucky just shrugged.

On the eighth day he rubbed Steve’s belly for nearly an hour while Steve whined and begged him to get on with it. Bucky ignored him, licking and nipping at Steve’s strained belly. Finally, he got Steve in his mouth and Steve started to lay almost immediately. Bucky continued to rub Steve’s belly as he sucked. He started to feel full and put his hand on his own belly, the other hand anchoring him to Steve. He enjoyed the feeling of the pressure starting to build ever so slightly. He started to distend, just a little, not enough for anyone to notice. His belly grew further and he knew he had to stop, he was getting too big. Reluctantly he pulled off and Steve whined. He carded his fingers through Steve’s hair to get him to calm down.

This was an interesting feeling. He was full, his belly definitely rounded, but he didn’t have that immense pressure or strained feeling he usually felt after. He didn’t feel like he would burst if he moved or too heavy to breathe. This wasn’t as arousing but it was… comforting. This time Bucky had promised that he wouldn’t come until he took the last of Steve’s eggs so Bucky focused on calming his erection. He rubbed at his belly, feeling the soft, rounded flesh. Usually Bucky’s body wouldn’t be described as soft anywhere, he was all hard muscle and sharp eyes. When his belly was packed tight he was also hard, his flesh having no give. Bucky liked being soft sometimes, not all the time, but some of the time. Like when he would gain weight in the summer when they were younger, he liked that he could be a little soft.

He’d hated that he had to be paranoid all the time about someone seeing, though. He was soft like this on the second day of taking in Steve’s clutch, when the eggs of the previous day had liquefied and Bucky’s belly was full and sloshy. But like this he felt less like a water balloon and more…pillowy. A sort of in-between state. Steve laid his head on Bucky’s belly, listening. He liked to do that, and Bucky liked it, too. He liked that he could be soft for Steve. Bucky could feel the eggs shifting inside him as Steve put pressure on him, but it felt good.

_It sounds much more sedate than usual._

‘Yeah. Are you ok? Did you like that?’

_Yeah, Buck. It was perfect. I can’t wait to do it again._

‘Good, I kind of like it, too. I don’t feel completely useless, packed tight, just pleasantly overfull. Not for all the time, but I think I’d like to do this sometimes even when we don’t have to. I’ll surprise you, Stevie, maybe I’ll keep going or maybe I’ll back off and make you wait an hour, or a day.’

Steve moaned quietly in his head. They dozed and lazily watched more Netflix. Someone pressed their ‘doorbell’ later that afternoon, a very subtle hidden button on the wall by the pool. There was a speaker by the entrance to the cave. Bucky put on a loose black t-shirt to hide any evidence and emerged to see Nick Fury standing there. Bucky was surprised.

“Well, this is interesting, you never come to visit us.”

“Where’s your other half?”

“Sleeping.”

“Whatever. So, you probably don’t remember this but when we first met I mentioned I might want you for a project of mine. It’s called the Avengers, a response team for threats our normal forces can’t handle. A lot of crazy shit’s been happening these last few months, the world is getting bigger, and I need people who can handle it. You’re a supersoldier who’s living with an alien merman, so you fit the bill. The team would only be called for something big, something global, I know you’re reluctant to leave Steve here but if this team fails there might not be a ‘here’ to leave him at.”

“Are you saying I’m crazy shit?” Bucky said, mock offended.

“Fuck yes you are. Do you wanna help save the world or not?”

“Uh, yes, sir.”

“Good. I don’t know when shit’s gonna go down so be ready for my call.”

With that he swooped out. That coat was really dramatic. Bucky returned to the cave and told Steve what happened.

_I don’t like the idea of you fighting more but I know that you feel it’s your duty, and you enjoy it._

Bucky shrugged, guilty, ‘I like helping people, and I do like fighting, yeah. I’m good at it, too.’

_I know you are, _Steve said with a smile.

They kissed, which Bucky had found he actually liked better underwater. Bucky kissed down Steve’s neck to his belly. Then he sucked hickies into the stretched skin, driving Steve wild. Bucky had mostly absorbed what he’d eaten earlier that day, so he was ready for more. His goal was to maintain ‘pillowy’ status as much as possible. He felt very serene as he was sucking Steve. He kept a hand on his belly, feeling it grow minutely with each egg. He’d taken note of how well he could move and how easy it was to conceal his belly in his usual loose t-shirts, so this time he felt like he could get a bit bigger. Not a lot, just a bit. He basked in the feeling of contentment as his belly grew to the size it was before. He relished the growing pressure as his belly hung lower and lower beneath him. He pulled off when he deemed himself big enough. He lay down beside Steve and waited for him to calm down. Steve laid down on him after a bit, rubbing at his tummy.

‘I think I figured out another part of why I like this.’

_Oh?_

‘You know that I didn’t have a lot of food growing up, so being nice and full like this but not so stretched out is telling that small part of my brain that’s always worried about getting enough to eat that it’s ok. I feel safe. Secure.’

_I’m glad._

Bucky felt great when he got up the next morning, only the tiniest bit sloshy. Usually he liked the sloshiness but today he wanted to go for a run and running and sloshiness don’t mix. He told Steve what he was going to do and left. He put on some of his dry clothes from a small cubby in the wall (SHIELD really likes secret compartments) and went to the gym. He liked the water but it was nice to be dry every once in a while, even Steve felt so. Clint was already there lifting weights. Clint looked at him when he came in and smiled. Both Bucky and Steve really liked Clint.

“I heard you scared the shit out of some unfortunate junior agents.”

“They’re just lucky that I was already awake or I would have been really nasty.”

“They’re so confused, they’ve been asking around trying to find out who you are but everyone who knows isn’t allowed to tell them. There’s a lot of rumors circulating around about you though.”

“How are there rumors if no one’s allowed to talk?”

“People see you coming and going from the dining hall carrying raw fish, walking around in shorts and t-shirts when everyone else is in uniform. The general consensus is that you’re a huge freak and possibly some sort of creature. Also, they’re all pretty convinced that you do live in that pool.”

Bucky snorted a laugh. “The irony is strong. You wanna spar?”

“Yeah.”

They sparred lightly, feeling each other out, then they gradually ramped up the intensity. When they finished they showered off and Bucky invited him back to the pool to swim. Bucky was sure Steve wouldn’t mind but he swam up to check with him anyway because he was a good husband (husband!!). Steve’s look grew pensive.

_Do you think we could tell him? Him and Natasha. Maybe not about you, at first, but about me? We can just say that I gradually re-absorb the eggs as opposed to me laying them in you. He probably knows that I haven’t left the cave in ten days. They’ll probably start to get really concerned, soon._

‘Yeah, I think we could do that. I’ll feel him out a bit first, even if they see. They already know we’re being suspicious.’

Bucky left the cave just in time to see Clint dive off the big rock into the water. Bucky grinned at Clint when he came up. Clint had a hearing aid that worked in water but he said it was uncomfortable so he just took his aids out when he swam.

‘So,’ Bucky signed. ‘Have they started worrying that they haven’t seen Steve in a while?’

‘They passed ‘worried’ after three days. At least half of the science department is convinced you’ve killed him. Fitz seems to think you’ve eaten him for some reason.’

Bucky snorted. ‘He’s fine, I promise. He just doesn’t want to come out right now for a good reason. If we tell you the reason and let you see him will you feel obligated to tell anyone except Natasha?’

‘No. The science department guys are the ones who want to study him and I don’t report to them.’

Bucky brought him into the cave. Clint stood up, looking down into the water at Steve. His eyes were bugging out of his head a bit.

‘Holy-are you alright?’

_I’m fine. I’ll do the explanation since it’s long and complicated._

Steve gave him the rundown of the three genders and how he would start a cycle frequently because there were no more of his kind around. He said that he would gradually absorb the eggs over the next twenty days, maybe less, because he hadn’t implanted them. Clint’s eyes narrowed.

‘That last part is a lie, I can tell.’

Bucky blinked at him, ‘Wow, it took me like a few months to start to catch Steve’s lies and you caught like the first one.’

_The second one. I told him I didn’t know where his last arrow went when he was practicing with underwater targets. I took it._

‘I knew you did, which is why I know you’re lying now. It feels different than the truth, in my head.’

_I’m sorry I lied, but I have a good reason. The part I’m lying about is the part we most definitely don’t want people to know about. Also, it’s kind of weird._

‘Dude you’re an alien merman, well, merperson, I guess. Are you ok with being called a man?’

_I really don’t care. Man is better than woman because it more closely suits my appearance but it doesn’t matter._

‘Ok. Anyway, we’ve already got a lot of weird here.’

_Bucky, _Steve spoke just to him_, is it ok to tell him? I don’t wanna embarrass you._

Bucky chewed his lip and shifted nervously. Then he nodded.

_So, _Steve started, a bit more unsure this time, _my body won’t re-absorb the eggs on its own for another eighteen days, but I can’t lay them unless they’re going in someone, so I lay them… in Bucky. He swallows them._

Clint blinked, absorbing this information. ‘Got it.’ He looked over at Bucky, searching him. ‘I have questions.’

‘Go for it.’

‘So how long does the transfer usually take?’

‘Like two days, usually. We have to take breaks to let me absorb some of the eggs.’

Clint’s eyes flicked rapidly between Steve’s hugely rounded stomach and Bucky.

‘How does that not… rupture… something?’

_There are chemicals that are released that help him stretch. I actually did not know this about my species beforehand, so we’re pretty sure that we made an entirely new scientific discovery._

‘I’m guessing this is why you consider yourself the foremost expert on merpeople?’

Barnes grinned and nodded at him. Clint looked around the room, frowning.

‘I’m assuming this involves a blowjob-like maneuver?’

They nodded.

‘How have you been breathing while you do that?’

Bucky facepalmed. Shit. He didn’t even think about the fact that what they were describing was physically impossible if Bucky had to breathe air. There wasn’t room for two in the little air shelf. Bucky sighed and sat down, blowing out the air in his lungs and taking in a deep breath of water. Clint made an aborted gesture to stop him, then froze in shock as Bucky continued to breathe. Bucky took off his shirt and raised his arm, putting his gills on display.

“Holy shit,” Clint said out loud. Then he switched back to sign, ‘Can you- have you-what?’

Bucky stood up again so he could sign clearly for Clint. ‘We only discovered that because I survived the plane crash. I was underwater for days before Steve found me, and we froze who knows how long after that. He thinks I just sort of went into a coma. We tested it shortly after that.’

‘Ok, how?’

_We think it was the eggs, which is why we really want to keep a lid on this. Fury would like to have agents that can breathe underwater._

‘Actually, the only time I can think of for me where that would have been useful was when some guys were trying to waterboard me. Underwater spy stuff doesn’t happen as often as you would think. Ok, so you’re like absorbing the eggs and they’re giving you merman powers, cool.’ He looked back and forth between them again, his eyes boring into Bucky’s now exposed stomach. He looked like he wanted to say something else but was too embarrassed.

‘Whatever you want to say, is it really worse than what we just admitted to you?’

‘I’m having trouble… I just can’t believe that you can seriously fit all that in you in two days.’

Bucky grinned at him, ‘If you’ll bring Steve food and guarantee privacy for two days I’ll show you.’ Clint’s eyes widened in shock. Bucky realized the implication, ‘Not like let you watch, I mean like let you see after.’

_I wouldn’t mind him watching. Him and Natasha, maybe,_ Steve said to just him.

Bucky held up a finger to Clint and covered his mouth, speaking to Steve, “Ok yeah, that’s pretty hot, but you gotta understand that group sex or watching other people have sex isn’t really normal for humans like it is merpeople. We’ll see how he reacts to the aftereffects first.” Bucky turned back to Clint. ‘Sorry, was working something out,’ he signed. ‘How does that sound?’

‘Natasha is coming back today, and this feels like some kind of sex thing, so I think I should talk to her about it first. She might wanna see, too, if that’s alright?’

‘Yeah, we were gonna show you both, you just happened to be here when we decided.’

_Go talk to her and get back to us, we’ll wait on you today. You can tell her everything you learned, and she won’t tell anyone, right?_

‘Of course not, this is your private business.’

_I don’t want to doubt you, but this is very important._

‘I understand completely. Thank you for trusting us with this.’

Clint took a deep breath and swam out. They only had to wait about two hours before their doorbell rang. Bucky swum out and grinned at Natasha and Clint, both in bathing suits. Natasha was holding two clear plastic tubes that were scrunched up.

“What are those?” Bucky asked.

“These are air hoses, there are ports for them in the walls of your cave.”

“Really? Cool.”

“I wanted to clarify something before you start. Do you _let_ Steve do this do you or do you _like_ Steve doing this to you?”

Bucky looked down awkwardly, “I, uh, I like it. And it’s not really something he does _to_ me, it’s something we do together.”

“Ok, I just wanted to know exactly what the dynamic was there. I would like to see Steve first, if that’s alright?”

“Yeah, we thought you would.”

Natasha followed him into the cave. Steve was lying on his back, arms thrown behind his head. He smiled at her hesitantly.

“Wow, Steve, this is a good look in you,” Natasha complimented. Steve flushed all the way down to his chest. “That is so cute. Ok, you two do your thing and then call us in here. Oh, and don’t worry about security, I promise Clint or I will be here the entire time until you can leave the cave again. Also we cut the cameras, so no worries there.”

“Thank you, that means a lot.”

She swam down the tunnel and left. Bucky grinned at Steve. The fact that Clint and Natasha were coming to inspect them afterward had them both hot. Bucky massaged Steve’s belly very firmly, digging his fingers into the large orb. Steve whined and writhed in pleasure, groaning when Bucky leaned down to nibble at him. Bucky moved down to mouth at Steve’s sex, licking and sucking at it before finally swallowing it down deep. He swallowed around Steve a couple times, working him with his throat muscles. The eggs came shortly after and Bucky eagerly welcomed them down his waiting throat. He didn’t even check how much he’d grown for a while, he was so focused on the act itself, the feeling of the eggs entering him.

He placed a gentle hand on his neck and found that he could feel the eggs going down his esophagus from the outside. The movement was slight but definitely there. Bucky found that incredibly erotic. He realized dimly that he was really starting to feel a fair amount of pressure and checked his belly. It was already gone past the pillowy stage and was starting to grow tense. Bucky rubbed at his belly, feeling it grow harder and harder under his hand as the pressure inside him grew. Bucky relished the weight of all the eggs inside him, how heavy they were packed into him like that. Bucky’s belly swelled steadily under his hand and Bucky was breathing harder from exertion. The pressure never got any less intense no matter how many times he was stretched out like this.

_Clint and Natasha are out there waiting, Buck. They want to see what you can do. They wanna see how many of my eggs you can pack into that hungry belly of yours. They don’t think you can really take a clutch in two days, but I know you can. They’re gonna be so shocked when they see you, Buck, all swollen and full to the brim. No one would ever believe it unless they saw it for themselves because it’s just so extraordinary. You’re amazing Buck, the way you take all of them so beautifully. How do you think you’ll look to them like that, someone who’s normally so strong so full he can’t even move? This is the first time we’ve done this since you got the serum, do you think you’ve gotten any stretchier? I bet you have, I bet you can take the whole rest of this clutch right now._

Bucky knew it was just talk, there was no way he could take most of a clutch in one day, much less in one sitting, but it sent thrills through Bucky anyway. Bucky really pushed himself, his arm working to sooth his aching, tight belly, but it was no good. Bucky resigned himself to the pain and pushed through it. Bucky was incredibly hard from the pressure inside him and the feeling of expanding. But he knew that he wasn’t going to come until the end. Bucky was flagging but he knew he had more room. He tightened his grip on Steve’s hip and Steve started sharing his pleasure. Bucky focused on the pleasure of the climaxes as each egg went into his waiting belly instead of the pressure ever building in him.

The crest of his belly was about in line with the middle of his thighs, so Bucky knew that he still had a lot more room. He bore down, buckling in for the long run. Bucky checked Steve, massaging and pleasuring him as he did. Steve had gone down significantly but he still had a lot left in him. Bucky focused on the pleasure he was feeling and managed to drift, riding the waves of pleasure. He was jolted back to himself by a strong cramp shooting across his belly. The pain was getting more intense and the pressure was screaming at him but Bucky knuckled down and bore it. His belly had absolutely no give to it and Bucky tried to cradle it against the pain but to no avail. There were so many eggs inside him and each new egg was just a bit more pressure in his tightly packed gut.

Bucky felt so good but the pressure inside him couldn’t wait any longer. Bucky felt a sharp pain and pulled off, not moving for a moment. Bucky shifted over slightly and pressed his forehead to the gel mat, hugging both his arms around his midsection. Slowly he rolled over onto his back, still cradling his massive belly protectively. Bucky was as big as he was when he finished the first cycle but then some of that mass was from the liquid eggs in his guts. This time all of the eggs were solid and inside his poor, abused stomach. Steve rubbed his belly and that helped some.

_Holy shit Buck, I’ve never seen you go from flat to this big before. Here, let me suck you off, I know that you said you wouldn’t come until I finished but that was when we were trying to be sneaky. You were amazing, Buck, look at you, I want to make you feel good._

Bucky nodded and Steve put his mouth to Bucky’s belly. Bucky didn’t get pleasure from it like Steve did but he did find it erotic. Steve opened his mouth and scraped his sharp teeth ever so gently across the crest of Bucky’s belly. A hot bolt of arousal shot through Bucky. Steve stuck his tongue in Bucky’s nearly flattened out bellybutton and Bucky almost came right then. Steve pushed in with his tongue, forcefully probing into Bucky’s belly, it felt so strange yet incredibly good. Steve moved on to Bucky’s cock, putting that sharp-toothed mouth to good use. He sucked Bucky eagerly, and when he ever so gently scraped his teeth on Bucky’s dick Bucky came immediately. Steve had picked up on that particular weakness a while ago. Steve worked Bucky’s shorts back on him,

_Can I call Clint and Natasha now?_

Bucky nodded and Steve called them in. Steve looked small enough now that he could maybe fit through the entrance, though it would be tight. Good, Bucky didn’t like Steve being trapped. Clint and Natasha entered and hooked the tubes to the wall closest to them, putting the ends in their mouths once the water was forced from it. They approached them then, examining Bucky in shock, the weights keeping them settled on the bottom.

‘Holy shit,’ Clint signed. ‘The human body is _not_ meant to do that.’

‘I agree,’ Bucky signed, making a pained face.

_This is how he usually looks when we finish on the second day. He really wanted to impress you two,_ Steve said from where he was settled on the other side of Bucky and rubbing Bucky’s poor belly.

‘Well I’m seriously impressed. I’ve seen people do a lot of crazy shit being at the circus and at SHIELD but this is something else.’

‘Are you in a lot of pain?’ Natasha asked. Bucky made a ‘so-so’ hand motion, then grimaced as another cramp hit.

‘Can we-would it help if we…?’ Clint moved his hand toward Bucky’s belly. Bucky nodded eagerly. They scooted closer, Clint sitting by his head and Natasha by his hip. Hesitantly their hands joined Steve’s and Bucky sighed in contentment.

‘His belly is so hard, is that the eggs?’ Natasha asked.

_No, the eggs are soft, jelly-like, he just feels so hard because there’s so many packed tight in there._

‘I’d kind of like to see one,’ Natasha said.

Bucky considered the logistics of that, ‘Yeah, I can make that happen next time I think.’

‘Damn. How did you even make this many? Is this a normal amount of eggs or is this a lot? Because it seems like a lot, and you’ve still got a bunch left,’ Clint signed, gesturing at Steve. Steve blushed furiously.

‘We’re pretty sure that it’s more than usual. Complimenting him on making a lot of eggs is basically saying he’s sexually attractive, just so you know.’

Clint smirked, ‘I see. Well, I’m no expert, but I agree with Bucky, who is the expert. This is an absolutely insane amount of eggs.’

‘Indeed. I can’t wait to see you put the rest of them in him,’ Natasha signed with a matching smirk.

_I think they’re on-board with the group sex plan,_ Steve said just to him.

Bucky nodded at Steve, then he turned to them. ‘Do you two want to watch tomorrow?’

They looked surprised, ‘Really? You want us there?’ Clint asked.

_Yeah. Group sex is pretty normal for my kind and Bucky likes the idea._

Bucky facepalmed, ‘There’s a difference between watching and group sex Steve.’

_Oh. Well we can do either one, it doesn’t matter to me. Bucky?_

‘I don’t mind, but I won’t be able to do much after we’re done. It’ll take some coordination. What do you two think? You definitely don’t have to.’

They glanced at each other, speaking without talking. Clint grinned and turned to them, ‘Alien merperson orgy? We’re so there. I can coordinate, if you want, since it seems like both of you will be busy. I’ve done it before.’

‘When did you coordinate an orgy?’

‘I was undercover at a sex club. It wasn’t a bad-guy orgy, it was just customers. Apparently, I was pretty good.’

_That sounds great._

‘Ok, how about you give me some do’s and don’ts.’

_I got it. Ok, I really like having my stomach rubbed, it gives me pleasure. Bucky does too but it doesn’t give him physical pleasure. Don’t touch his dick during it, he likes to wait until the end. I’m pretty sure that it’ll take two sessions tomorrow to finish up. Oh, I can do this thing where I can share my pleasure with Bucky, and I’d like to try and include you two in that, is that ok?_

‘What’s that like Bucky?’

‘It’ll ruin you for normal sex forever, especially at the end when Steve finishes. I’ve never had normal sex but I’m fairly certain that Steve’s orgasms are way more intense than human ones.’

‘You’ve never had normal sex?’ Clint asked.

‘Nope.’

Clint and Natasha shared another look. ‘I don’t want to offend anyone but would you like to? With one of us? Both, maybe?’

Bucky looked at Steve, raising an eyebrow.

_I don’t have a problem with it Buck. It’s normal for my kind. You’ll have to tell me about it after, of course._

Bucky smiled and nodded at them.

‘Great, we’ll talk about that later. I definitely want to try out your alien sex powers, Steve,’ Clint signed.

‘Me, too. Might as well get the full experience. So, do you two like gentle rubbing or something a little more forceful?’ Natasha asked, lightly touching Bucky’s belly with her nails.

_I really like it when Bucky scrapes me with his teeth and scratches me some, but I like gentle as well. I can’t really reach Bucky during but I see him rubbing his own belly. Bucky?_

‘I think I’d like someone else rubbing me during but I don’t want any pain during, it already hurts some. After, when Steve’s taking care of me, just a little is good.’

‘Alright, anything you two want to add?’

Steve and Bucky considered then shook their heads. Clint grinned around the tube in his mouth.

‘Ok, well, we’ll leave you two to rest. Nat and I are going to take turns on watch, so for the first part of the night I’m gonna be right above your heads with my bow.’

‘Thank you, both of you.’

‘I’ve been promised a mind-blowing sexual experience in exchange so don’t disappoint,’ Clint signed. They packed up their tubes and left.

Bucky thought he would be too excited to sleep but the heaviness of his belly acted like an anchor pulling him to unconsciousness. Bucky wondered if he would gain weight from this like he did before or if his super metabolism would prevent it.

The next morning when they woke up Bucky was delightfully sloshy. He had decreased in size some but the liquid was mostly redistributed in him, his belly sat lower than it did before. Bucky enjoyed shifting back and forth to feel the liquid inside him move. They called Clint and Natasha in and Bucky showed them. It was easy to move around in the sloshy phase so Bucky stood up to show them his belly.

‘You really call this ‘the sloshy phase’?’ Clint asked. Bucky scowled at him playfully.

‘You got a better name? Look, it sloshes.’ Bucky said, shifting back and forth. His swollen belly swayed from side to side. ‘It’s even more fun on land.’

Clint held a hand out and Bucky nodded. He and Natasha both played with his belly for a minute.

‘So, it’s all liquid in there now? You’re right, it is pretty sloshy,’ Clint said.

‘Yeah, I feel like a water balloon. It’s nice, I’m still all swollen but there isn’t that insane pressure or pain.’

‘If you wanna enjoy this a while then there’s no rush.’

‘Well, I am feeling kind of antsy. Would you two mind sitting on me while I do pushups?’

Bucky got into position and was surprised when he felt Clint lay directly on top of him, his thighs clinging to Bucky’s hips. He felt the weight of Natasha settle on him as well and he started moving. He couldn’t go as low as he usually did because he didn’t want to mash his distended belly too much. He squished it a little into the gel mat with each down-stroke.

He felt Clint’s hands trail down his side and start to stroke at his belly. Bucky gasped a little but continued to move. Clint shifted and Bucky could feel Clint’s dick against his ass. He was starting to get hard and Bucky’s own dick grew heavy in response. Bucky looked to the side to see Steve there looking extremely aroused. Clint moved his hips just a little, grinding into Bucky and Bucky whined silently. Bucky enjoyed the feeling of Clint’s hands on him, squishing his belly, moving it back and forth. Bucky was ready to start for sure. Bucky stopped moving and tilted to the side a bit, signaling that he wanted them off. They did and he saw Clint smirking at him.

‘You ready to go?’ Clint asked. Steve and Bucky both nodded eagerly. ‘So, after some thought, we decided to give your normal sexual education a jumpstart, Bucky. You’ll be useless after so I thought that you could go ahead and help Natasha out. Would you like to learn how to perform oral on a woman?’ Bucky’s eyes widened and he nodded. Slowly Natasha peeled off her bathing suit bottoms, spreading her legs and beckoning.

_Uh, Clint is having me translate his sign so you don’t have to watch him. He says to focus your attention on the-the what? There’s like a button thing near the top._ Steve said. Bucky did as instructed, finding the button thing. He sucked on it and Natasha’s breath hitched so he continued to attend to it, licking and sucking. She started combing her fingers through his hair, massaging his scalp. It felt good.

_Clint says put two fingers in her, one at a time, palm up, and crook them. You’re feeling for a spongy part?_

Bucky did and Natasha gasped. He worked his mouth and fingers in tandem.

_Natasha says you’re really good at this._

Bucky grinned and redoubled his efforts. Natasha moaned slightly into the breathing tube.

Soon enough Natasha came and Clint told him to keep going. After Natasha came again she pushed at him gently and he pulled off of her. She gave him a thumbs up and he grinned at her.

‘Ok, now you go do your thing with Steve and when you’re done Steve can take care of me, and I’ll take care of Bucky and then probably Nat again. How does that sound?’ Clint signed.

Steve and Bucky both grinned and nodded. Bucky went to Steve and straddled him, starting on his belly, and Natasha and Clint joined him on either side of Steve. Steve moaned and whined in their heads, and when Bucky started to bite on him he made a screeching sound and Clint and Natasha looked alarmed. Bucky held up an ok sign and kept going. They took his lead and continued as well. Bucky moved down and was surprised to see that Steve hadn’t emerged from his slit. He was probably shy, Bucky determined. Bucky licked at Steve’s slit, sliding his tongue ever so slightly inside. Steve screeched and that pale tube emerged.

Bucky quickly put his mouth over it before Steve could get shy again. He heard Clint shifting downward while Natasha continued to massage Steve’s belly. Having all this extra help was nice. Steve’s eggs started and Bucky swallowed them down. Clint knelt beside Bucky, one hand on his back and the other reaching underneath to feel of his belly. Bucky kept his own hand on it as well, feeling what Clint was feeling. They both pushed on it some, feeling the give in it slowly decrease as more eggs settled deep inside Bucky. Bucky could feel the eggs shifting around inside him, moving beneath his skin.

The pressure mounted quickly, his belly growing tight and hard. He heard Clint make an impressed sound as he grew bigger and Bucky grinned around Steve. The pressure was getting intense so Bucky squeezed Steve’s hip. He heard Steve make a strangled sound, but apparently he was too overwhelmed to talk to Bucky. Instead he wordlessly shared his pleasure. He heard Clint and Natasha both gasp so he knew they felt it too. It was intense, with each egg the pressure mounted but so did the pleasure.

Bucky could also feel how good Natasha’s hands felt on Steve, how spectacular her scraping nails felt. Bucky felt so good it was easy to ignore his discomfort for a time, but it couldn’t last. The pressure built further and couldn’t be ignored. Bucky could have gone a bit more but he wanted to leave plenty for later, the last leg was always the most intense. Bucky almost forgot about the egg but he remembered. He waited until the egg passed his lips and then pulled off, squeezing the base and sucking hard. The egg popped out into his mouth and Bucky dropped it into his hand.

_Holy shit,_ Steve said.

Bucky shot him a concerned look.

_I’m fine, that was just really strange and intense._

Bucky offered him the egg and Steve took it while Bucky rolled onto his back. He wasn’t in quite as much discomfort as usual but there was still a lot of pressure. Steve held out the egg to Natasha and she examined it. It was squishy, clear, and about the size of a golf ball. It was also tinted a sort of silvery color. She handed it to Clint gently and he held it up to the light. It was empty, Bucky had expected there to be some sort of denser part somewhere where the baby would grow but it was completely clear.

Steve held his hand out for it. Bucky didn’t know what they were gonna do with it. Steve swam over to their baskets and pulled out a bowl and put the egg in it.

_I wanna see what it’ll do,_ he explained. He swam back over and started massaging Bucky’s belly. Clint and Natasha joined him. Then Clint moved his hand to Bucky’s shorts, pausing for a moment. Bucky nodded and Clint pulled down his shorts and started stroking Bucky with one hand while continuing to massage Bucky’s belly with the other. Clint’s hand was rough and callused and the different textures felt good on his dick. Bucky came with a silent cry, arching his back. He settled back down, boneless and content. Steve grabbed Clint by the hips and gently manipulated him where he wanted him, sitting against the wall where Bucky had a good angle to see. Natasha continued rubbing at him absently but her focus was on them.

_Do you want it gentle or to you want me to use these a little?_ Steve asked, smiling with his sharp teeth. Clint swallowed.

‘Uh, maybe not on my dick, but elsewhere yeah. I like pain, you can bite down on me, break the skin.’

Steve started at his neck, licking and sucking there, then he continued downward. He moved to Clint’s shoulder and nipped at him, then he bit down harder. Clint gasped and thrust his hips upward into Steve. When Steve let go there was a neat ring of shallow dents. Bucky thought he saw some blood escape. Steve checked Clint’s face and Clint nodded enthusiastically.

Bucky could see Clint’s dick straining to escape his shorts. Bucky liked a little pain but he didn’t like to actually be injured. Clearly Clint was into it, though. Steve worked his way down slowly, biting at the top of his pectoral and sucking on his nipples hard. Steve pulled Clint forward, away from the wall, and pushed Clint gently onto his back. He sucked at Clint’s hard, muscled abdomen, digging into his bellybutton with his tongue. Then he turned his head and latched onto Clint’s side, biting down on him. He left another ovular pattern of puncture marks, Bucky could see they were pretty deep.

He pulled Clint’s shorts off and immediately bit down on the top Clint’s thigh. Clint arched his back and whined. Bucky could see how hard Clint was now, straining upward. Steve pulled off and attended to Clint’s dick, sucking his balls gently into his mouth one at a time. Clint froze, panting, and Bucky could see that the idea that Steve might bite down on him there was incredibly arousing to him. Steve pulled up and licked a stripe up Clint’s cock, but then he abruptly turned his head and bit down on Clint’s other thigh. Clint cried out, panting rapidly.

Finally Steve swallowed down Clint’s cock. He’d gotten pretty good at blowjobs practicing on Bucky, and Clint was clearly enjoying it. After all that buildup Clint didn’t take long at all to come. He just sort of laid back after, stunned. Bucky grinned at him. Steve started licking Clint’s wounds and Clint squirmed under him in confusion.

_My spit prevents infections_, Steve explained.

‘We have medicine for that,’ Clint signed back.

_Do you want me to stop?_

Clint shook his head. Bucky understood the feeling. Once Bucky had slipped and cut himself on a rock and Steve had tenderly licked it after, it was a little weird but Steve was so caring when he did it that you couldn’t help but be a little touched. He wondered what Clint would think if he knew how good people tasted to Steve. Steve finished his ministrations and they both moved closer. Steve rubbed and kissed on Bucky’s swollen flesh tenderly, wrapping his arms around Bucky’s mass. Bucky was extremely content.

‘So, that went well, I feel,’ Clint said. Everyone nodded in agreement. Once they had rested up Natasha and Clint left. Bucky heard them swimming and splashing around outside.

_Hey, Buck, will you pull another egg out?_

‘Why?’

_It’s a surprise._

Bucky shrugged and nodded. He got Steve worked up and sucked a single egg out of him. Steve put it in the bowl with the other one and hid the bowl behind their baskets. They curled up together, Steve listening to the gurgling of Bucky’s stomach.

It was about seven that evening before Bucky was ready to finish up. He wanted to make sure he wouldn’t have to stop before the end. Both Steve and Bucky enjoyed watching Bucky’s belly go from tense and hard to softer and squishier. Steve sat on him while he did more pushups and he held Steve while he did squats to help him absorb the eggs more quickly. By seven it was mostly into the sloshy phase so Bucky figured he was good to go. They called Clint and Natasha in and got right to business.

‘I can see that you two are eager to go so this time Nat and I will just take care of each other after, if that’s ok?’

‘Actually I usually orgasm when Steve finishes during the last part, so you might, too,’ Bucky signed.

‘I look forward to that,’ Clint said with a grin.

They all worked on stimulating Steve, Bucky licking and pressing kisses while Natasha rubbed and scratched lightly and Clint massaged firmly. They did their best to overwhelm Steve with different sensations. After they got Steve making a noise like tearing metal Bucky shifted to suck him into his mouth. Steve hadn’t needed any encouragement this time. This time Clint stayed with Steve and Natasha moved down to rub Bucky. The eggs came quickly, and Bucky settled in, letting them flow into him like water. Natasha rubbed his belly in slow circles, pressing up and feeling the weight of it, rocking it back and forth.

He felt more weight settling into him, his belly hanging lower beneath him. Then he started growing tighter, his flesh growing more reluctant to stretch. Bucky continued eagerly, enjoying all the feelings, the mass inside him. When he grew uncomfortable and his belly was hard and taunt he squeezed Steve’s hip. Steve started sharing his pleasure and it was much more intense than before. The eggs started coming faster and he felt Natasha’s fingers dig into his back a little from the intensity. Bucky felt his belly, he was getting really big but he could get bigger he knew. He checked Steve and he was quite small, Bucky could take that, including the additional eggs he knew were hidden deep in Steve. The eggs came faster and Bucky lost himself in the pleasure. He’d already decided he wasn’t going to stop so he didn’t have to mind the pressure building in him. He could just enjoy it. He relished the pressure, the strain.

Both Clint and Natasha were panting rapidly, Clint was whining intermittently, shifting around, pulling at his straining dick. Natasha was touching herself, too, but Bucky knew that it wouldn’t help, he’d tried it once just to see and it only made it worse. The pleasure was intense but the flipside was that while they were linked they couldn’t come until Steve did. Clint realized this first and gave up, redoubling his efforts on Steve’s belly. They all gasped at the increase in intensity. The eggs started coming faster until they streamed into Bucky constantly, creating a constant plateau of mind-blowing pleasure. Bucky was growing rapidly as the eggs were shoved down his throat with increasing force. Bucky’s belly surged forwards under his hand, swelling and ballooning outward. Bucky felt the pressure and the pain but he ignored it, focusing on just how good it felt. But fuck, it was getting more difficult. He squeezed Steve’s hip again, and Steve started talking. With a thrill he realized Natasha and Clint could hear, too.

_You’re so close Buck, so close. It feels so good, Buck, you’re so good to me. You’re making us all feel so good. You want to come, don’t you? You wanna feel it when you swallow down that last egg? You’re almost there. You just gotta hold on for me. You have no idea how hot that makes me, that I’m doing that to you, that I’m making you grow like that. You’re getting so big and heavy for me, all my eggs inside you making you huge. You’re so close, so close._

Bucky was really feeling the strain now, his belly pressing down on Steve’s tail. Natasha kept rubbing him even as her breath only came in little gasps. Clint’s eyes kept rolling back in his head like he was about to pass out. Bucky could feel it, the last egg was coming soon, and the pressure was intense but Bucky could take it. The last egg entered Bucky and Steve came hard, dragging them all with him. Bucky continued to suck on Steve, a technique he learned would draw the orgasm out even further. Bucky probably came at least six times during the five-minute orgasm, the pleasure cresting again and again. Bucky continued sucking until the pleasure was more than he could stand and he pulled off of Steve.

He stayed there panting for a moment, resting his forehead on Steve’s now-flat belly. Slowly Bucky rolled off of Steve onto his side, curling around his enormous belly, feeling the weight and size of it. Steve shifted towards him and Bucky rolled onto his back to accept belly rubs. They both looked to Clint and Natasha who had collapsed. They were both still breathing so Bucky figured they were alright. Natasha recovered first, sitting up and looking at them in amazement.

‘How are you not dead, if you’ve been doing this for years?’

Bucky shrugged, ‘It only happened maybe three or four times a year then, because Steve had to leave for the winter.’

Clint sat up, ‘Holy fuck I almost drowned. You were not messing around about it being more intense than human orgasms.’

‘So, I was right about that then.’

‘Definitely. We’re not gonna be able to compete with that.’

‘You don’t have to. Even if it’s not crazy intense like that it’ll still be good. Like this is so overwhelming, being able to slow down and luxuriate in it will be nice.’

‘I have a question, do you two have sex when Steve’s not in his cycle?’ Natasha asked.

_I don’t have any interest in sex at other times but I’ll suck Bucky off if he wants it. It would be nice if he could come to one of you on those occasions. Males and females of my species are always able and willing to have sex so that they’ll be ready when the maker starts their cycle so an arrangement like that is normal, whether it’s romantic or platonic._

‘This is definitely going to be platonic between us, just to be clear,’ Natasha said, gesturing between Clint and herself and Steve and Bucky.

‘Yeah, we’re kind of it for each other,’ Clint supplied.

_That’s good, that was what I was going to say, too. This is nice, it feels very balanced, all the genders present._

‘Am I a female in this scenario?’ Bucky asked.

_Yes, but that’s not new,_ Steve said with a grin, rubbing on his swollen belly. Bucky rolled his eyes and then shrugged.

‘Whatever. Girl power Natasha,’ Bucky signed, holding out his fist. Natasha rolled her eyes but she fist-bumped him.

‘Where the fuck did you even learn that? You’re from the forties and you live in a cave!’ Clint asked. He started rubbing Bucky’s belly absently. They bantered back and forth for a while before they left Bucky and Steve went to sleep. Steve woke Bucky up the next morning saying he was going to go swimming. Bucky nodded and went back to sleep. Bucky was extremely huge and sloshy when he woke up again. He laid around and read a book, the e-reader propped up on his belly. Steve came back in about mid-day to check on him, eating a raw fish, an entire fish, not the cut up fish from the cafeteria.

‘Where’d you get that?’

_Huh? Oh! Apparently they sell raw fish at certain places, Clint got some. He was gonna get you one but I told him you’ll probably be full for a few days, even with the increased metabolism. He said he’d bring you fish then._

‘Clint’s a nice guy. They both are.’

_Yeah._ Steve looked wistfully at the fish. _I like it here, I do, we’ve made a nice home here, and I know that you’ve got your Avengers thing, but I miss the ocean. Do you think we could convince them to take us there if we promise to come back?_

‘I think that they’d take us there even if we said we weren’t coming back. I don’t think they’d have a problem with it.’

Steve grinned and happily ate his fish. Bucky was immensely thirsty, he was pretty sure the salt content of his body was much higher than normal right now. Steve got him the fresh water hose that had been jury-rigged in for them. Bucky had a thought. Gently he slid the hose in his mouth and then kept pushing it in, down into his throat. Steve’s eyes widened. Bucky made a go-ahead motion and Steve turned the hose on. The cool water flowing down his throat felt really good, soothing his thirst. Bucky could filter saltwater through his gills to drink like Steve, the only reason he was thirsty was because of the eggs. His thirst was sated but Bucky was curious. Steve settled beside him, rubbing his belly. It was a different sensation than the eggs, the water was cool and settled easily. Bucky kept a hand on his belly and felt himself growing again but he stayed somewhat sloshy. Bucky liked it, but he was supposed to be getting back to normal size.

_If you wanna keep going then do it, water won’t take you long to process. Clint and Natasha apparently worked out a deal with Fury for this so until everything’s back to normal they’re on vacation, they’re more than happy to stick around._

Bucky grinned at him and continued to drink, filling his belly with the cool water. Steve continued to rub him as he grew bigger.

_I never get to feel you getting bigger when you’re swallowing my eggs, I like this._

Bucky laid his head back and relaxed, letting the water slowly balloon his belly upwards. It was nice to feel the weight of his belly slowly increasing on top of him as opposed to underneath him. He was aroused but it was secondary to the nice and calm headspace he was in.

Bucky often had trouble relaxing, he could only get this relaxed when Steve was filling him up or rubbing him after. If Bucky could have that even when Steve wasn’t in his cycle, it would be great. Why hadn’t they thought of this before? Oh right, it wasn’t safe before. Bucky closed his eyes and breathed, listening to the bubbling of his filling stomach. He felt the pressure start to increase but it was still enjoyable. Once the pressure got to the point that Bucky knew the pain was about to start Bucky carefully pulled the hose out of his mouth. Steve turned the water off and moved between Bucky’s thighs, shooting him a questioning look. Bucky smiled and nodded his head. Steve seemed to sense the state he was in so he sucked him lazily and gently. Bucky came with a sigh of pleasure. Steve curled up next to him and Bucky held him close. Steve rubbed lazy circles in his belly and they dozed in contentment listening to Clint and Natasha spar outside. He heard a splash and Clint saying ‘Aww, water, no.’

Clint and Natasha came back in later and looked quizzically at Bucky.

‘Did you get bigger?’ Natasha asked.

‘Oh fuck, you’re not alien pregnant are you?!’ Clint looked alarmed. Steve and Bucky both rolled their eyes.

‘I had a new idea and decided now would be the best time to try it out. It was sort of spur-of-the-moment. It’s water, dumbass.’

‘I knew that. I was just messing with you,’ Clint signed unconvincingly.

‘What’s the verdict on the water?’ Natasha asked.

‘It’s great, I can get bigger but stay all sloshy, and there isn’t any pressure to keep going. It’s relaxing.’

‘Well thank fuck something relaxes you,’ Clint said. Bucky shrugged. He’d been in a war, he was bound to be tense. 

Two days after that Bucky’s eyes landed on the bowl with Steve’s eggs in it. He looked at them and promptly had a heart attack. They were cloudier, more of a grey color, but Bucky could see some sort of darker mass in the center of each one. Were they-surely not, they couldn’t be, that didn’t even make sense-but it looked suspiciously like they were…fertile. Steve swam in and Bucky just pointed at the eggs with an alarmed face.

‘Steve what are these eggs doing?’

_Hmm? Oh, are they doing it?_ Steve swam over to look. He smiled, then he turned and caught Bucky’s completely freaked out expression. _Oh! No! No, no, they’re not growing, I promise. Just leave them be, you’ll see soon enough. _Steve smiled. Bucky’s heart slowly slid back down his throat from where it had tried to escape his body. Bucky had no interest in being a father(?).

Three days after that Steve checked the bowl and made a happy sound like the noise a rubber duck makes. He reached into the bowl and showed the contents to Bucky. In each of his hands was what looked to be a golf ball sized pearl. Bucky’s eyes widened.

_If the unfertilized ones are left alone they calcify like this. Aren’t they beautiful? I’m gonna give them to Clint and Natasha._

‘They’re beautiful. You’re full of wonders Stevie,’ Bucky signed with a smile. Steve blushed. Bucky held out his hand and Steve handed him the eggs. Pearls? Bucky guessed they were pearls now. They weren’t white but rather a shiny, silvery color. Bucky texted Clint and Natasha to come by when they could because Steve had a surprise for them. They showed up later that afternoon.

‘Hey guys. The funniest thing happened to me yesterday,’ Clint signed. Clint waited for permission to continue and Steve and Bucky both nodded in encouragement. ‘I had just gotten done working out so I went to the locker room and took off my shirt, and the other guys freaked out and asked me what had attacked me, so I just told them ‘it’s classified’. So now they think I was attacked by some sort of monster on an op. I think they’re waiting for me to turn into a vampire or something.’

_You should totally start acting like a vampire. Avoid sunlight, complain about being thirsty all the time but not for water, stuff like that._

Everyone cracked up at that.

‘I am SO doing that!’ Clint signed.

_So, are you ready for the surprise?_ Steve asked. They nodded and Steve handed them each a pearl, explaining what it was. They both looked amazed. Clint gently slipped his into a pocket before signing,

‘This is easily one of the coolest gifts I’ve ever gotten. I mean, you literally _made_ it.’

‘It’s very personal. I’m rather touched,’ Natasha said. Steve beamed at them.

Clint and Natasha visited them regularly, and Clint brought updates on his vampirism progress. He’d taken to wearing shades everywhere and only being seen outside during the night. He said that one day while in the gym someone had cut themselves and Clint had seen out of the corner of his eye. But he then proceeded to sniff dramatically and whip his head toward the guy like he’d smelled the blood. The guy had frozen in fear and looked like he was about to pee himself, apparently. The rumor of Clint’s vampirism was widespread. Clint had taken a couple of steps toward the guy before Natasha had gotten him in a chokehold and dragged him out of the room while he hissed and snarled like she was preventing some sort of vampiric incident. Natasha said that she’d seen people carving stakes and the number of people wearing crosses had gone up dramatically.

Then Clint was sent off to watch some sort of science shit and Natasha was sent to Russia for something so things got really boring. Also, regrettably, Bucky burned off his newly acquired layer of fat in like a week. He and Steve were both pretty bummed at that point.

A couple of weeks after that Fury came while Steve and Bucky were lounging under the artificial sunlight.

“Barnes, you remember the Avengers? It’s time,” he said. Bucky scrambled up and went to the cubby, drying off. He got out his simple dark blue tac gear with the star on the front and put it on quickly. They had wanted to put him in some ridiculous red-white-and-blue thing but Bucky had put his foot down. Yes, Captain America was a symbol but he was a symbol that people were damn well gonna take seriously. He leaned down and gave a Steve a quick kiss for luck.

_Be careful._

“I will Steve, promise.”

Fury briefed him on the team as they walked through the base. The future sure was crazy, people who turned into raging green people, robot men, and people _knew_ about it. Bucky was used to secret weird.

“One more thing: Barton’s been compromised,” Fury concluded.

“What? Compromised how?”

“Loki has some sort of mind-control scepter and he got Barton with it. Don’t let him touch you with the glowing blue stick.”

“Fucking hell. You called Natasha right?”

“Yes, she’s coming in now. Come meet Banner and Stark, I’m sure you’ll get along great,” Fury said with a hint of sarcasm.

“Do they know about Steve?”

“No. You can tell them if you want but all they know is that you’re a defrosted supersoldier from the forties.”

“So, they’re expecting Grandpa Barnes is what you’re saying.”

“Probably.”

Their little team didn’t go so well, and then Clint attacked the hellicarier. Fucking hell, why’d Loki have to get Clint? If Clint really put his mind to it he could probably take down all of SHIELD. As it was he almost managed to knock the hellicarier out of the sky. Clearly Clint wasn’t giving it his all, which was heartening. Once all the chaos was over he found him and Natasha.

“Cognitive recalibration. I hit him really hard on the head.”

“I’m surprised it worked, Clint, you’ve got a pretty hard head.”

Clint snorted and they flew to New York. Bucky was insanely worried about Steve but the New York SHIELD office was quite far below ground, so he’d probably be fine. They managed to fend off an entire alien invasion, which Bucky felt was pretty impressive. They had shawarma after and Bucky eyed it suspiciously. He was worried that such an abrupt change in diet from nothing but raw meat for several months might do something very unpleasant to him.

Clint snorted at the look on his face, ‘When’s the last time you ate cooked food?’

‘Like three months ago.’

‘You’ll probably be fine. I’m sure if you get sick Steve will rub your tummy for you.’

Bucky grinned at him and ate. That night he went home to Steve and he let Steve lick every tiny cut and scratch.

‘Do I taste good?’ Bucky signed.

Steve looked conflicted. …_yes,_ he finally admitted. He gave Bucky a worried look, but Bucky just smiled at him.

‘It’s fine. Would you eat me if I were dead?’

Steve furrowed his brow. _Not unless you wanted me to._

‘I’d expected an immediate denial. Have you thought about it?’

Steve shifted uncomfortably. _Well, yes, but not like you think. It wouldn’t be because you’re food. Amongst my kind when someone dies those closest to them eat them so that they will live on in a way._

‘Oh, I see. That makes sense.’

_It is a secret and sacred ritual, and is not meant to be shared with outsiders. But you are not an outsider._

‘Thank you Stevie. When I die I think I’d like that. I’ll put in my will that I want them to let you take my body out to sea to be taken care of. They don’t have to know what you’re going to do with it.’

_Really?_

‘Yeah. And if you even think of following after me I’ll know and give you the worst indigestion you’ve ever had in your _life_.’

Steve smiled at him, _I won’t, I promise. If you don’t want to that’s fine but… would you do the same for me?_

Bucky considered that. Considered eating Steve. His heart hurt just thinking about Steve dying but… ‘Yes, I will. I understand what you’re talking about. I would like to keep you with me.’

Steve smiled at him and continued licking his injuries, even though he had already cleaned all of them. They both found it comforting.

Stark called him a few weeks later, Bucky stood up in the cave to answer.

“Barnes.”

“Hey, Ice Pop, come live with me in my tower. We’re a world-saving team so we need a sweet base.”

“I already have a home here at SHIELD.”

“Yes but my place is nicer I’m sure. Look, do you really wanna live in some tiny, cramped SHIELD room or your own apartment?”

“My place is very nice, but even if it wasn’t as nice… I have reasons that I can’t leave.”

“Is SHIELD not letting you? Say yes if so, this is a secure line.”

Bucky groaned, “I’m free to leave, Stark, but I don’t want to. I’m happy here. But thank you for the offer.”

“Ok, yeah, I get that. Home is where the heart is and all that. Why do I hear water?”

“Probably because I’m in water.”

“Are you answering my calls in the bath?” Stark asked with a slightly lecherous tone.

Bucky rolled his eyes, “I’m in a pool, Stark.”

“SHIELD has a pool?”

“Not one you’re authorized to use. Goodbye, Stark.”

“Later.”

Bucky thought that was the end of it. However, the next day he was awoken by a commotion from outside the cave and swum out with his knife. Steve was on the seventh day of his growing cycle and Bucky was not about to let anything happen to him. Stark was there with several agents telling him he wasn’t authorized to be here. Bucky sighed deeply and sat down on the rock.

“Hey, it’s cool, I’ll send him out in a bit,” Bucky said. The agents left.

“How much time do you spend here?” Stark asked.

“Some.”

“Why are you naked?”

Bucky looked down. So he was. “I was skinny dipping,” he said, climbing back into the pool.

“So, are you gonna show me your place?”

“Why do you wanna see my place?”

“Honest answer? I wanna make sure you’re not living in some dank SHIELD hole all alone and miserable and lying about it to save face.”

Ok, that was actually kind of touching. Bucky sighed and spread his arms. “I live here.”

Stark blinked. “You live in a pool?”

“Yep. There’s a cave in the rock.”

“You live in a cave. In a pool. In the middle of a SHIELD base.”

“Yep.”

“Why?!”

“I got my reasons, Stark. Trust is earned, alright? Gimme some time.”

“Ok, well, you have a very nice pool.”

“Thank you, Stark.”

“I could build you a really sweet pool in the tower, though.”

“No. Don’t go all crazy and decide to build one anyway, there are factors you aren’t aware of and you’d have to change it if I were to move in, probably.”

“So you are thinking about it.”

“Yes, maybe, now go away before SHIELD arrests you.”

Stark left grinning.

_I kind of like the idea of moving to the tower_, Steve said as he swam back inside.

‘Yeah, but I wanna make sure Stark is trustworthy first. The guy kept his secret identity for like ten minutes.’

_Just think, we could help with the design._

‘I don’t like the idea of living on Stark’s dime, though. Here I earn my keep, I help train agents and stuff, and I’m an Avenger.’

_Well, you could work for Stark?_

‘Doing what? He runs a technology company, I really don’t know anything about that stuff.’

_Well, why do you think he’s doing this?_

‘I dunno.’

_If it was really only about having a base for the Avengers he could have put you up somewhere else, but he wants you to live with him. I think he’s lonely, why else would he invite a bunch of strangers into his house?_

‘Oh. So, what you’re saying is that he’s trying to buy friends?’

_Maybe somewhat. But I think that maybe, from what you’ve told me, money is how he shows affection. You said his father worked with you in the war right? How would you characterize him?_

‘A man who loves machines more than people. A man who talked with his money. I get your point.’

_Besides, you’re on a team together. I’m sure you’ll end up saving his life at some point. It’s like he’s pre-emptively thanking you._

Bucky snorted.

Bucky didn’t take Stark up on his offer to move in, but he did start hanging out over there more. He was worried about leaving Steve alone but Steve insisted that he was totally fine and that he wouldn’t mind some alone time. Steve was used to being alone and being with Bucky 24/7 was apparently a bit overwhelming for him. Stark and Banner were both laboring under the misimpression that Bucky actually was ‘Captain America’, which was mostly a propaganda tool that the Army had created. Stark liked to poke fun at him about being old and stuff, but Bruce was nice. Bucky liked to hang out with them in the lab and try to understand their science stuff. They were currently trying to develop a good villain containment system. The current version was a fired net of some sort. They were debating how to properly test it.

“Why don’t you just fire it at me and I’ll try to get out?” Bucky asked.

“We’re afraid it might kill you,” Bruce said flatly.

“Well you tested the force that it hit people with, and it wasn’t enough to seriously injure someone, right?”

“Mostly. It took a mannequin’s head off but we fixed that. We think,” Tony said.

“Well then, come on, hit me with it,” he said. He stood in the middle of the lab and they fired it at him. The net wrapped around his whole body and he went down like a sack of bricks. Bucky immediately started to struggle to get out but the net was impressively strong.

“You ok?” Tony asked.

“’m fahn,” Bucky said around the net in his mouth. He started gnawing on the net and he felt it start to fray. After Bucky had discovered his gills he’d given himself a more thorough once-over and he’d discovered that his teeth were sharper than a normal human’s. Not pointier necessarily, but the edges were more honed. His canines in particular were rather knife-like. It took him nearly twenty minutes but he managed to gnaw a big enough hole in the net that he could wiggle out.

Tony and Bruce looked impressed. Tony examined the net,

“Did you _chew_ through this?”

“Yep.”

“Huh. Are your teeth sharper than a normal person’s? You shouldn’t have been able to cut this.”

“Little bit, yeah.”

“Interesting,” Stark said.

Another time they came back to the tower after a battle with some sort of goo monsters that were dissolving buildings. Bucky and Bruce ended up in the kitchen eating.

“I imagine that all this must be very strange to you,” Bruce said. Bucky had gotten pretty tired of comments like that but he sensed that Bruce was trying to work up to what he actually had to say.

“Eh, goo blobs eating buildings really isn’t that weird.”

“And what about me?”

“What, you mean the Hulk thing? I’ve seen weirder.”

Bruce looked skeptical, “Really?”

“Yeah. Sure, it’s unusual, but I can understand it. You were trying to re-create the serum, right?”

“Yeah.”

“And then obviously something went awry. Not that hard to understand. I’ve liberated concentration camps and Hydra experimentation facilities. The things I saw in there… they were incomprehensible. That people could do that to other people. I’ll never understand it. To me that’s much weirder.”

“Oh. Well. I suppose so, yes.”

Down in the lab, Bucky asked them a question.

“Hey, how do I make a will?” he asked.

Both Tony and Bruce looked at him in alarm,

“Why do you ask?” Tony said cautiously.

“It’s not that weird, we live very dangerous lives. I just have certain requests that I’d like fulfilled.”

“Uh, ok. I’ll put you in contact with my legal department tomorrow.”

“Thanks. Can I trust you to make sure that it’s fulfilled?”

“Are you expecting opposition?” Bruce asked.

“Yes. I think that SHIELD is going to want my body, but I don’t want them to have it.”

“I understand not wanting to be an experiment. I’ll make sure, don’t worry,” Bruce said with dark certainty.

The next day Bucky met with a lawyer.

“So, what exactly are you wanting to put in this will? I was given to understand that you don’t have much in the way of possessions.” she asked. The lawyer was a beautiful blonde woman named Marci Stahl.

“Well, it’s more about what I want done with my body. I’m sure that SHIELD will want to experiment on me but I don’t want that.”

“I see. Well, what do you want done with it?”

“Well, it’s complicated. You said that you’re not allowed to tell anyone about this, right?”

“Right.”

“Even Stark?”

“_Especially_ Stark.”

“Ok. Well, I want my body given to someone so they can take it out to the ocean.”

“A burial at sea? That’s… interesting.”

“I know, I was already practically buried at sea once, right? But I have to be given to this specific person. And it has to be as quickly as physically possible, I don’t want to be prepared or whatever they do to dead people for funerals.”

“Ok. What is this person’s name?”

“Steve.”

“Last name?”

“Uh. He doesn’t exactly… have one. His legal status is also uncertain.”

“Ok, that’s not going to work. Can someone who is legal take you?”

“No, it’s got to be Steve. Well. Can someone else take me to the ocean and then give me to Steve?”

“What exactly is Steve going to do with you?”

“He’s going to take care of me according to the customs of his people.”

“Ok. Who exactly is he to you?”

“Well, we consider ourselves married, but we can’t actually get legally married because of his dubious legal status.”

“Can you be more specific about his status?”

“Well, legally he doesn’t exist. He doesn’t have a birth certificate or a social security number or anything. You have to be level six at SHIELD just to know he exists.”

Marci raised an eyebrow, “Is he some sort of genetic experiment cooked up by SHIELD?”

“What? No,” Bucky said in confusion.

“Ok. So is he foreign?”

“Yeah, you could say that.”

“Something tells me that he’s not a legal resident of _any_ country, not just this one.”

“Uh. Yeah.”

“Ok, level with me: is your husband an alien?”

“Um. Depends on how you define alien.”

Marci just looked at him.

“He was born on Earth, but, yeah. He’s an alien.”

“Right. I’m assuming this alien lives in the water?”

“Yes.”

“Who else knows about this?”

“Some SHIELD agents, Clint and Natasha, and you.”

“Great. I’ll draw up a document stating your desire for your dead body to be given to your alien husband. My advice would be to ask Clint and Natasha to handle getting you and Steve to the ocean, since I’m assuming that Steve is at SHIELD?”

“Yes.”

“Right. Well, I doubt anyone is going to be able to stop them. I think the purpose of this document will be less to ensure that your wishes are met and more to protect Clint and Natasha afterward. It seems like you trust them, right?”

“I do.”

“They can handle it. I’m sure Stark and Banner will be happy to help as well. And of course I’ll smack down any pesky SHIELD legal ramifications.”

“Thank you Ms. Stahl.”

“Marci, please.”

“You’ve been very helpful Marci.”

“It’s my job.”

Another week after that and he and Steve were dealing with his cycle via what Bucky was calling the ‘pillow method’ since both Clint and Natasha were on missions. They had just finished a session and Bucky might have gotten a bit excited. He was a little larger than he usually allowed himself to get but he was confident that no one would notice. Stark called and Bucky groaned, standing up to answer.

“Hey, emergency meeting.”

“I’m busy, so if this isn’t an actual fucking emergency then I’m going to tear your face off.”

“It’s really an emergency, promise, you’re needed ASAP.”

Bucky hung up and groaned. He kissed Steve goodbye and grudgingly left to go to Stark Tower. He’d put on a loose t-shirt and he was pretty confident that no one could tell but he was still paranoid about it. He could see Stark waiting for him in the lobby but as soon as Bucky crossed the threshold an alarm went off.

“Code Chartreuse! Code Chartreuse!” it yelled. The fuck did that mean? He looked to Tony and all the blood had drained from the man’s face. Bucky started to freak out a little in response.

“Tony what the fuck does ‘Code Chartreuse’ mean?” 

“Uh, you’re fine, you’re fine, don’t panic. Uh. Here come with me,” he said, taking Bucky’s arm and dragging him. Bucky allowed himself to be dragged. He was definitely freaking Bucky out. Bucky allowed himself to be dragged to what looked like a medbay of some sort. He gently pushed Bucky into a chair, like he didn’t want to hurt him.

“Tony, tell me what the fuck is going on.”

“Everything’s fine, we’ll get it all sorted out. How are you feeling? Are you in pain?”

“What the-no, I’m fine, you’re freaking me out.”

“Ok, ok, good, just sit tight, uh, don’t move around too much. Don’t freak out, everything’s fine.”

“THE FACT THAT YOU KEEP TELLING ME EVERYTHING’S FINE IS REALLY MAKING ME THINK THE OPPOSITE!” Bucky yelled. 

Bruce entered the room,

“Did you seriously page me for a Code Chartreuse? Tony-”

“Barnes set off the scanner when he walked in the building, I swear.”

“JARVIS, confirm?”

“I can confirm that the scanner was tripped.”

“Scanner? What scanner?” Bucky asked.

“Show me the scan right now,” Tony said. He held up a tablet and gasped at what he saw. He showed it to Bruce, who also gasped.

“Uh, Bucky,” Bruce said hesitantly, “Has anything… unusual happened to you recently?”

“No. Aside from the alien invasion things have been pretty normal.”

“Could it have happened then?” Tony muttered.

“In the battle, were you unconscious at any point?” Bruce asked.

“No.”

“Did you have any contact with the fluids of the aliens?”

“No more than anyone else.”

“Ok, how about more recently, have you, uh, woken up somewhere you didn’t expect to be? Or have you had any strange dreams?”

“No! Ok, seriously, what the fuck is going on here?”

“We believe that you may have come into contact with something and… picked something up.”

“Like what?”

“Uh. Well. Here, this is a scan of you right now,” Bruce said, flicking at the tablet.

An image appeared in the air and Bucky inhaled in shock and arousal. An image of Bucky’s abdomen appeared in 3-d, and Bucky could clearly see his distended tummy. But Bucky could also see inside himself, which was weird but also arousing because he could see Steve’s eggs nestled inside him. Bucky had an extremely complicated emotional reaction to the image. Bucky stared at the image of those eggs cradled in his belly and he felt good. That was right, that was where the eggs belonged. Bucky was so distracted that he didn’t even notice Stark lifting his shirt until he gasped. Bucky wasn’t nearly as big as he could get, obviously, but his stomach was still distended and swollen, sticking out prominently from him. Bucky recovered and pushed Stark’s hand away, pulling down his shirt.

“Oh, fuck, we gotta get ‘em out of you!” Stark said.

Bucky’s first reaction was horror, and not because he was pretty sure Tony was suggesting cutting him open. Bucky felt protective of the eggs. Bucky knew the eggs weren’t fertile, and he didn’t feel bad about eating them. But they were pieces of Steve that he had given to Bucky, and Bucky wanted to keep them safe. Steve had made these eggs for him and entrusted him with them and Bucky’d be damned if he let anything happen to them. He curled his arms around his stomach and glared at the scientists.

“Fuck no, you stay away from me. They’re mine, you’re not taking them.”

Stark and Bruce both looked disproportionately horrified.

“Why the fuck is he protecting them?” Tony muttered to Bruce.

“Do you think they’re affecting his mind?” Bruce muttered back.

“Listen, Bucky, these things could be dangerous. You could get hurt, when they hatch who knows what could happen to you.”

Oh, they thought this was an Aliens-type situation. They thought that alien babies were going to grow in Bucky and eat their way out or something equally gross and horrible. No wonder they were so freaked out. Bucky groaned and put his face in his hands. “Ugh. Fuck. Where do I even begin?” He looked at their concerned faces. “Ok, I should probably start by saying that I am perfectly ok, aliens are not going to pop out of me or anything.”

“How could you possibly know that?” Tony asked.

“I’ve been doing this for years, alright? If you would let me start at the beginning it’ll make a lot more sense.”

“By ‘doing this’ do you mean getting alien impregnated?”

Bucky rolled his eyes, “I’m not ‘impregnated’ any more than someone is impregnated after giving head and swallowing, alright?”

“What?”

“The eggs aren’t fertile, there are no alien babies in me.”

“So, you let an alien put eggs in you intentionally?” Tony asked, looking vaguely disgusted. Bucky glared at him.

“Look, don’t you sit here and judge me, Stark. What I do with the person I love isn’t any of your damn business!”

“Woah, woah, wait, I’m sorry, ok? I was being insensitive, I guess. I promise I’m not judging you. I was imaging some sort of horrifying alien tentacle monster, but, uh, I’m thinking that was wrong. Let’s back up and start at the beginning, like you said.” Tony looked sincere and Bucky sighed, running his hand through his hair.

“I can assure you there is no ‘horrible tentacle monster’, but even if he was a tentacle creature or something I wouldn’t care. The alien in question is quite beautiful, though,” Bucky said with a smile. Tony smiled back. “Let’s… let’s go to my place. It’ll be easier to explain visually. Oh, wait, what was the meeting about?”

Tony shuffled awkwardly, “It’s a surprise party. I was gonna do a big one but Bruce convinced me not to so it’s just me and him.”

“A surprise party for what?”

“Your birthday,” Stark said, looking confused.

“My birthday isn’t until the tenth.”

“Uh, it is the tenth.”

“Really? Shit, I thought it was still February.”

Tony blinked, “Damn, Barnes, you’ve got to leave your cave more.”

“I’m getting that, yeah. You guys should bring something to swim in.”

“Is this going to involve entering an underwater cave?” Bruce asked. Bucky nodded. “I think I’ll just get the explanation second hand if that’s ok with you, I don’t do underwater caves.”

“There’s an air pocket, if that helps?”

“Not really. You two have fun with that.”

Bucky walked back into the lobby, stopping at the door. He looked at Stark seriously,

“The stuff I’m about to tell you, what you’ve already seen, you don’t breathe a word of except to Bruce. We’re trying to avoid the exact reaction you just had. Why do you even have that scanner by the way?”

“I won’t tell. I can keep a secret, even if it doesn’t seem like it. Uh, I was watching _Aliens_ while really drunk. Seemed like a good idea at the time, then I left it as a joke.”

“You should get rid of it.”

“Uh, yeah.”

They returned to SHIELD and entered the pool room. Bucky directed Tony to stay on the side and get ready. Bucky jumped in the water and swam up into the cave, briefing Steve on what happened. Steve laughed a little when he said that Tony had found out by a scanner set to detect alien impregnation.

_Aww, Buck, I didn’t know it was your birthday,_ Steve said after that. Bucky shrugged,

‘I didn’t either. So, is it ok if he comes in here?’

Steve nodded and Bucky hooked up an air tube. Bucky swam back out.

“Ok, come in, but don’t freak out, alright? There’s an air tube in the cave.”

“I’m assuming there is also an alien in the cave?” Tony said, looking a bit nervous.

“Yes, but he’s not going to hurt you. You fought with Thor, right? He’s from a similar planet.”

“Ok, sure, yeah.”

Stark got in and Bucky entered the cave. He handed the air tube to Stark as he entered and Stark took it gratefully. Stark did not appear to be a strong swimmer. Stark’s eyes bugged out of his head as he laid eyes on Steve.

_Hi, Mr. Stark, I’m Steve._ Stark looked up and saw the air pocket. He stood up so he could speak. Bucky had forgotten that Stark didn’t sign. Bucky stood up, too, so they could talk.

“Uh, hi, Steve. You can call me Tony. You too, Barnes, for that matter.” Tony continued to stare in amazement at Steve. “You were right Barnes, definitely not a tentacle monster,” he said with a smile.

Steve gave Tony the basic rundown of his species, from Asgard, hunted by humans, etc. etc. Then he got into the ‘alien impregnation’ part of it. Tony was fascinated. Bucky casually sat next to Steve and waited for Tony to notice he was breathing underwater. It took a while, but they explained that too.

“Wow, Barnes, so not only are you dating-”

“_Married_,” they said at the same time, holding up their matching bands.

“Not only are you_ married_ to an alien merperson but you have kinky oviposition merperson sex. Nice.”

_Ovi-what?_

“It’s an established sexual fetish, people getting filled with eggs. You got a tablet or something?”

They handed him one, “Ooh, StarkTech, how long have you been using this thing underwater?”

_Like a few months._

“Nice, you’re really putting it to the test. Ok, let’s see…” he tapped on it for a moment. Then he turned it around and there was a picture of a girl getting pumped full of eggs by tentacles. Bucky was amazed for a second, but then he grimaced,

“She doesn’t look very happy about it.”

“It’s just an example. So, doing this,” he gestured at Bucky’s belly, “does it for you?”

“Uh, yeah, it does. Are you satisfied?”

“Yes. This means you’ll both move into the tower, right? I can totally make a better pool than this. Bonus, mine won’t come with invasive SHIELD cameras.”

“Yes. Thank you Tony.”

“This is gonna be fun. I’ll come by tomorrow with my stuff and we’ll do design ideas.”

“It would be easier if you would wait until we finish up with Steve’s cycle so we can do this on land.”

“See, in the tower you won’t have to hide in your cave to do your kinky alien sex stuff. Ok, I’ll leave you two to that. Hey, the pool can be your birthday present, Barnes!” he said with a grin. He took a deep breath and swum out.

_That went well._

They finished the cycle in the next few days and called Stark. After a lot of thinking and back and forth they had a design. Stark also asked a few awkward questions about their sex life and what exactly they needed to facilitate it. He kept it mostly professional. Stark had originally planned on giving Bucky one of the upper floors but now he was going to redesign an existing pool in one of the basement levels. No one used it anyway, apparently. Bucky had insisted that they didn’t want or need anything fancy and Stark agreed that he wouldn’t make anything crazy.

About a month after that Stark called and said it was finished. Bucky went over to see what it was like before they brought Steve. Stark pushed the button for the basement level, scanning his eyeball. The doors opened into a small room with a door.

“There’s a camera there,” he said, pointing to a corner, “So you can see who’s knocking before you let them in,” Tony said. Tony had Bucky scan his eyeball and the door opened. Over on the right side was a large and open living room/kitchen area. There were sections of the floor under both rooms that were glass, revealing that the pool extended further under the floor. Bucky noticed that one of the couches was a day bed. On the left was a pool that was thirty feet by maybe fifty feet. He looked beneath and saw that there were rock formations of various sizes attached to the walls of the pool, several of them large enough that people could sit on them and only be up to their waist in water. The middle was open with a few rocks along the bottom. Bucky saw there were some of those comfortable and squishy gel mats attached to the tops of the rocks. There was also a kelp copse on the end nearest to the door. Bucky saw movement in the pool and looked closer. There were fish in there!

“You’ll have to feed the fish and stuff but I thought you guys might like that.”

“It’s amazing, Tony.”

Tony practically glowed. “You haven’t even seen the underwater living area.”

Bucky eagerly removed his shirt and pants and jumped into the pool. He swum around, looking at the pool from under the water. He heard a second splash and saw Tony had jumped in, too. He was wearing some sort of full face mask attached to an air tank.

“You’ve got a couple of these in your closet. It makes it easier to talk since there’s no air pocket in your house down here. I figured that now that you don’t have to hide you can just chat with us air-breathers up there. The cave down here is just for you two.” He swam over to a wall and indicated a door. Bucky pulled on it and went inside. The setup was basically identical to their cave at SHIELD, except Bucky saw that there was a hatch on the top. Where could that go? The door to the cave was in line with the wall of the room.

“The hatch goes up and comes out in a small panic room for emergencies. The panic room has air, I assume Steve can haul himself out of a hole, and another passage that’s a tube headed straight into the river. I thought I’d make your cave like the one at SHIELD since you were talking about how happy it made you and such. Mine has a TV in the wall over there though,” Tony said with a grin. Bucky swam out and they went to the surface,

Bucky turned to him with a smile, “It’s perfect, absolutely perfect, Steve’s gonna love it, I’ll get him today. Can I give you a hug?”

“Just don’t squeeze me too hard.”

Bucky hugged him firmly. “Thank you.”

Tony looked really uncomfortable with all the thanks.

“Yeah, yeah, just go get your alien husband, huh?” he said, leaving the pool and beating a quick retreat. Bucky went back to SHIELD and packed up their stuff. After some debate they got a large bin and put Steve in it. SHIELD let them borrow a van to move so Bucky just had to wheel Steve to the van on a cart and them wheel him into the tower. Steve wasn’t particularly thrilled by the box plan and griped the whole way in Bucky’s head.

Bucky opened the box in their new place and Steve gasped in shock when he saw it. Bucky lifted him out of the box and dropped him in the pool. Steve swum around happily then jumped up out of the water in a graceful backflip.

_We have to do something really nice for Tony!_

“We’ll have to figure something out for sure, this is amazing.”

Bucky brought in their stuff from SHIELD, tablets, random objects like Clint’s arrow, etc. and put them in the cave. He investigated the cave more thoroughly and found a panel in the floor. There was a bunch of stuff inside with a laminated sticky note, ‘You said you liked to play with water. They had enemas in the forties right? -Tony’ There were some soft plastic tubes and stuff inside that could hook up to the fresh water port in the cave. There was also what appeared to be a butt plug with a hole through it and a stopper. What-OH! Bucky grinned manically and showed Steve the stuff.

_Humans have some great ideas. Can we hang out in the living room? I’ve never sat on a couch or anything._

They went up and got all dried off, then Bucky carried Steve onto the daybed. Bucky let it out into a bed and they curled up in it together under a blanket.

_Wow, this is awesome, everything is so warm and soft._

Bucky smiled and curled further around Steve. They slept on the daybed that night. The next day Bucky was looking through the closet that Stark had filled with clothes and started noticing shirts that were definitely not for him, they were way too small. Bucky opened saw another sticky note, ‘I thought Steve might like to see how he liked these.’ Bucky opened a drawer and found some skirts and comfortable looking dresses in Steve’s size. Bucky’s eyes widened. Well… he supposed pants weren’t really practical.

“Stark got you clothes, Steve.”

_Really? Huh. I wanna see._

Bucky brought the clothes to Steve on the daybed. Steve held up a silky green skirt with a confused look.

_What’s this?_

“It’s a skirt. Usually women wear them, so that’s why you’ve never seen me in one,” Bucky said, trying to keep his voice neutral. The idea of Steve in a skirt or a dress was really erotic for some reason Bucky couldn’t quite figure out. It didn’t even make since, Steve was naked all the time, why would him putting on clothes turn Bucky on?

_Huh._ Steve held the skirt over him and Bucky’s cock tried to leave his body and accost Steve. Steve looked at him and Bucky knew he was failing to keep his face from showing it. Steve grinned wickedly at him, _You like this huh? You wanna see me in women’s clothes? Is that a normal human thing or is this what you would call kinky?_

“Uh, probably the latter. If you don’t wanna, don’t do it on my account.”

Steve smiled to him, _I like them. _He slipped the skirt over his tail and worked it over his hips. He laid back, smoothing the skirt. _How do I look?_

Bucky swallowed and tried to form words. “Uh. Really good. Fuck.”

Steve smiled and put on a white tank-top, frowning a little.

_This constricts my back fin but that’s fine._

They hung out on the land of a few days, Natasha and Clint coming over to hang with them occasionally. Regrettably they had to leave the skirts on land as the salt water would damage them. Bucky was going to have to find some sort of underwater skirts. Maybe he could make some? Yeah, he could sew a bunch of bathing suits together, or something. Maybe they still made bathing suits with skirts.

About a week after they moved in Steve turned to him with a slightly wicked smile,

_Can we try the enema now? I’m really curious._

Bucky nodded and they got it all set up back in their cave. Bucky fingered himself open and let Steve put the plug in. Steve hooked the tube to the wall and turned it on low. Bucky jumped a little at the sensation of the cool water hitting his insides. The water flowed into him and settled deep inside him. The pressure began to increase more quickly than it did in his stomach. Steve began to massage his belly and that helped Bucky relax into it some. The feeling of the water entering him there was so foreign and strange but Bucky found that he was enjoying it. His belly started to distend, but Bucky felt like most of the water was settled deeper inside him where you couldn’t see it on the outside. Bucky could definitely feel it though, he didn’t really feel sloshy, he felt full and tight.

He could feel the weight of the water pressing on his prostate and making him hard as a rock. The water was a lot lower in his belly than it usually was, the bulge of his tummy more centered between his hips at first. His belly soon grew everywhere, filling out nice and round under Steve’s hands. Bucky let himself swell and swell until the pressure inside him grew to be too intense for his liking. Bucky signed that he was full and Steve removed the hose and quickly put the stopper in the plug. Bucky rubbed his belly, examining it. He felt enormous, heavy and massive, but he really wasn’t as large as could get by far. Bucky’s belly stuck out maybe eight inches from its normal size, but he felt much bigger. Bucky slowly got up and stood, feeling the weight of the water settling downward in him. Bucky cradled his swollen belly with a small smile.

_You liked that, huh?_

‘Yes. I want to swim around with the plug still in me for a while,’ Bucky signed with a smile.

_I kind of wish I could be aroused right now because I’m pretty sure I’d find that really hot._

‘You’ll just have to think about it later.’

Bucky and Steve swam around, twining around each other under the water. They kissed each other all over. Steve still enjoyed being touched and kissed even if he didn’t get aroused by it. He liked the intimacy and affection. Steve payed special attention to Bucky’s belly and his cock. They had their own place now so of course Bucky was naked. Bucky felt the plug in him shift against his prostate with every movement, and Steve’s light kisses to his cock were driving him wild. Then Steve gripped his hips while they were floating in the middle of the pool, licking and sucking at him in earnest. Bucky could only float there, weightless. It was a very strange sensation. He took Bucky in his mouth and Bucky came very quickly. Bucky reluctantly released the water later when it grew uncomfortable.

Bucky definitely wanted to try it again the next day. Steve had an idea, though.

_We’ve got two tubes and a splitter for the faucet. What if we tried it in both ends at once?_

Bucky’s eyes widened in arousal.

‘Steve you have the best ideas.’

Steve grinned as Bucky slid the hose into his mouth and down his throat. Steve gently worked the plug into him, it was only as wide as two fingers and Bucky had already stretched himself. Steve hooked the plug into the tube and looked at Bucky. Bucky smiled and gave him a thumbs-up. Steve turned the water on and settled in between Bucky’s knees, ready to take the hose out when Bucky needed it. The water flowed into him gradually from both ends. Bucky’s whole abdomen started to feel wonderfully cool. The water was at a very low flow so it could stretch Bucky out slowly.

Bucky’s belly started to distend slightly. Bucky liked this part because he normally didn’t get to see but like this he could. Gradually his very defined abdominals softened out into a small, round tummy. The feeling of being filled from both ends was intense, there was so much water settling inside him. He felt so many sensations at once, the water was absolutely everywhere. Bucky loved it. He wanted every inch of him to be swollen and full. Bucky leaned his head back and closed his eyes, just enjoying the sensation of his belly ballooning upwards. He could hear the bubbling sound of the water inside him. The water was so deep inside him, filling him up completely. It felt amazing, the feeling of fullness was so intense but it wasn’t painful. His dick was straining against his growing belly insistently. He felt Steve’s hand on his knee. Bucky opened his eyes and looked up at Steve over the crest of his belly. Steve smiled at him.

_Do you want me to suck you while you’re filling up?_

Bucky nodded with a smile and Steve started to gently lick at Bucky, teasing him. He rubbed at Bucky’s belly, gently massaging the water deeper into him. Finally, Steve took Bucky into his mouth. The sensation of Steve very gently sucking on him combined with the water flowing into him was driving Bucky wild.

Steve kept teasing him, sucking at Bucky and then pulling off, licking and kissing his belly instead whenever Bucky got close. Bucky was going insane. Steve took Bucky fully in his mouth and swallowed around him. Bucky came down his throat almost immediately. Bucky was getting really big now but he still wanted more. He was relishing the feeling of the weight of his belly pressing down on him. He was getting heavier, and he could really feel the weight increasing lying on his back like this. He felt so full, he was well and truly a water balloon now. The water was slowly blowing his belly up. Bucky ran his hands over his belly, pressing down slightly. His belly was so big but it was still so soft and squishy. Bucky was starting to get hard again, the pressure in his belly seeming to force blood into his dick.

_You wanna go again?_ Steve asked. Bucky nodded.

Steve didn’t move immediately to his dick, instead he focused on Bucky’s belly, sucking at the distended flesh. He rubbed at it, shifting all that water around. Bucky was starting to feel the pressure increase substantially, particularly in his lower belly. Steve’s gentle massaging could only help so much. Steve started to suck him gently, not enough for Bucky to come.

Bucky felt like he was starting to get too full, his stomach and his intestines were fighting each other for room to distend. Space that would normally be available for one or the other to expand into was occupied so they both had no choice but to expand outward even further and faster than usual. Bucky wasn’t in pain, but the total volume of water in him was rapidly approaching more than he could fit in either area separately and still be alright. Steve continued to gently suckle at him, seemingly content to just play with Bucky. The pressure of the liquid was growing more intense, Bucky felt the weight of all the water inside him pressing outward in every direction. Bucky was starting to feel overwhelmed. He wanted Steve to hurry up and finish him off. Bucky tapped Steve with his foot and Steve pulled off to look at him.

‘Stop teasing please, I can’t take it anymore,’ he signed. Steve grinned and started to suck him in earnest. Bucky wanted to come so badly but he couldn’t quite get there, he’d already come once not that long ago. The water inside him was still flowing strongly, stretching and expanding him. Bucky was starting to feel way too big, it was too much, but fuck he wanted to come while he was still filling up.

Steve sucked him harder and then Bucky felt the plug in him shift. Steve started to move the plug, grinding against his prostate. Bucky could feel the pressure of the water flowing directly against his most sensitive spot. Bucky continued to swell and swell, and he wanted to come so badly. He felt his orgasm start to slowly build, getting closer and closer even as the pressure in Bucky’s belly increased. Finally Bucky came again, seeing stars for a bit and losing focus. When he snapped out of it he remembered that the water was still flowing and pulled the hose out of his throat. Steve pulled the hose out and quickly plugged the hole it left. Bucky relaxed with a sigh, stroking his huge and rounded tummy and adjusting to the feeling of all that water inside him. Steve stroked and pressed slightly on his belly.

_Are you alright?_

‘I’m fine. I just took in more than I was really planning to. Fuck, I’m so full. It feels so good, there’s so much water inside me. Look at me, I’m huge.’

_I agree. You can really fit a lot more inside you if you distribute it. Make sure to breathe deeply, you don’t want to get water poisoning._

Bucky took deep breaths. Just like he could pull fresh water out of salt water with his gills he could also pull in more salt and such if the levels in his body were too low. Bucky had a lot of water in him, he felt massively heavy. After a bit Bucky’s body adjusted somewhat to the water and Bucky wasn’t feeling quite so overwhelmed. He felt good, relaxed. The water didn’t have quite the same substance as the eggs. It was heavy but it didn’t have the same weight. It was hard to explain the feeling. He knew that soon his body would process the water and it would be gone, while the eggs would stick with him, at least for a while. The water didn’t have the same emotional weight, either. He loved the eggs because they came from Steve, because Steve made them for him.

Once Bucky was back to normal they decided to go eat with the team, apparently Tony was trying to have team dinners be a thing. He’d emailed Bucky asking for a list of human food Steve could eat and Bucky had replied that he’d never had human food except a couple pieces of fruit and candy that Bucky had managed to slip him over the years. And meat, of course, but Bucky didn’t specify what kind. He hadn’t had a problem with that. Tony had replied that he could work with that. Steve wore his blue dress, and Bucky was so proud that Steve was his, he looked damn fine in that dress. Bucky carried Steve to the elevator then up to the common floor.

“Hey, what’s up guys? You’re just in time,” Tony said. He led them to a table where the meal appeared to be some variety of pasta and some sides. “This is Steve’s place,” he said, indicating a chair. Bucky sat Steve down and sat next to him. There was another plate in front of Steve with some sort of rice roll things on it. Tony sat down across from them.

“So, this,” he indicated the rolls, “is sushi. It’s raw fish wrapped in kelp and rice. I think you’ll like it alright. I figured that he could eat a small amount of pasta to go with his sushi, to see whether or not he can handle it.”

Bucky smiled at Tony, “This is very considerate of you.”

Tony shifted uncomfortably, “Well, it was mostly Bruce, I went to him for help.”

“Well, thank you, too, Bruce.”

They all dug in, chatting amiably. Steve was a little shy at first since he’d never been around more than two humans (besides Bucky) at a time before, but he eventually warmed up. Steve liked the sushi and the pasta. He and Bruce got to talking about environmental conservation, Steve had really gotten into the whole ‘eco-activism’ thing. Bucky was hit with another surge of pride. Bucky was the luckiest guy in the world.

Not even two days later they were all hanging out on the common floor when Thor showed up, waltzing in from the landing pad. Steve and Bucky were sitting in a chair facing the door so they saw Thor first.

“Greetings, friends, how-”

He broke off when he caught sight of Steve, his eyes widening in shock. Steve had also frozen at the sight of the giant Asgardian. None of them quite knew how Thor would react to Steve.

“Odin’s beard. I have not seen one of your kind in many, many years. Greetings.”

_Greetings, Thor Odinson. I am Steve._

Thor looked between Steve and Bucky, specifically how Steve was sitting on Bucky. “Ah, so you are coupled with the Captain, then?”

“Yeah, we’ve been together for a while,” Bucky said. Thor grinned at him, settling onto the couch with Tony and Bruce.

“Excellent, I am most happy for you, how did you ever come to meet though?”

“We were twelve and I found him passed out on a rock on the shore.”

_I almost got eaten by a shark. I was trying to crawl over the rock into a pool to hide from it but I’d swum so fast and was so scared that I passed out. I’m just glad it was Bucky who found me and not someone less kind._

“And you struck up a friendship?”

“Yeah, we would hang out nearly every day in the summer.”

“That is so cute, childhood best friends, adorable,” Tony said. Bucky rolled his eyes.

“I have often heard that your kind fear humans, and that there was much animosity between your species in the early days of the Midgardian’s exploration of the sea.”

Steve shrugged, _Yeah, there were… tensions. But Bucky proved me wrong about humans._

“Is it true that your kind used to eat human sailors?” Thor asked curiously. Tony choked on his drink.

Steve looked away awkwardly, _Yes, that’s true._

“Forgive me, I meant no judgement. If we all were judged by what our species has done then we would all be very guilty indeed.”

“True,” Tony said.

“If all humans were judged just by the things I’ve _personally_ seen then we’d definitely be the monsters Steve was told we were,” Bucky mused.

“I’d believe that, I’m sure you’ve seen some shit,” Tony said.

“Anyway, moving on, Thor, how have things been with you?”

Thor began to recount what he’d been up to in epic fashion and Bucky and Steve relaxed. They’d dodged the bullet there.

Bucky was called away on some Avengers bullshit, something about Doombots? So Steve was left back at the tower alone and a little bored. He was sitting on the couch covered on a blanket and reading. Blankets were really nice, they were so soft, Steve really appreciated them. Steve heard a noise outside and then he heard their door open. Steve knew that it wasn’t Bucky, and no one else would come in without knocking except an enemy. Steve was not fast on land, there wasn’t enough time to get to the water, so he flung himself behind the couch. This obviously wasn’t a very permanent solution.

Steve didn’t know what to do. If there were intruders then obviously JARVIS had been taken out. Steve couldn’t get to his phone, it was across the room charging. He heard multiple sets of boots on the ground and he coiled up like a snake. If he was going down he was going down fighting, he wasn’t about to let himself be captured.

When the first man came into view Steve launched himself at the man, trying to tear his throat out. The man dodged but Steve still connected, sinking his teeth into the man’s shoulder and tearing, causing the man to start screaming as hot blood filled Steve’s mouth. Several pairs of hands pulled him off and held him by the arms and the tail. He struggled and thrashed and eventually they dropped him to the ground and held him down with their boots so he couldn’t get any leverage.

“What the fuck is this thing?”

“Some sort of genetic experiment?”

Steve decided to play dumb, the more they underestimated him the better. He snarled and tried to bite at their ankles.

“Do you think the General would want this?”

“It could be useful.”

Steve was tied up as best as they could manage and thrown into the back of a van. He quickly gnawed off the ropes but he was still in a van. When they opened the door he launched himself at the nearest person but it he couldn’t get a hit in, there were too many. Steve couldn’t get a good angle to snap their necks or bite them. Steve was carted into a building of some kind and tossed on the floor in front of a man in uniform.

“General, we couldn’t get anything off the computers, but we found this. We think it’s some sort of animal that Stark or Banner made.”

Steve decided that being regarded as an animal was definitely not a good thing, he knew what people could do to animals. He looked the General right in the eye,

_I’m not an animal, please don’t hurt me._

Everyone in the room gasped in shock and the General took a step back.

“What the hell kind of creature are you?”

_I’m a merman. I came from the sea. Captain America is my friend, so you should really let me go._

“A merman, huh? Fascinating. Call the science division, I’m about to make their day. Take this thing somewhere for now. Stick it in a shower or something, I don’t care! Don’t hurt it though, I need it intact.”

Steve decided that his tactic would be to play as helpless and pitiful as possible, even if it rankled him. He couldn’t fight his way out of here. Surely someone in this place had a conscience. Steve went totally limp and started wailing, which was something he hadn’t done since he was a child. It sounded something akin to human wailing, a high pitched sort of moaning or keening, but it also invoked a feeling of utter sadness in whoever heard it. The guys carrying him looked supremely uncomfortable.

“Come on, man, cut that out,” one of them said uncertainly.

_I want to go home! I’m scared!_ Steve wailed, looking right into the eyes of the man holding his upper body. _Please help me, I don’t want to-to be experimented on, or cut up. I haven’t done anything wrong._

One of them grabbed him roughly, “Shut up!”

Steve increased the pitch of his wailing into more of a screeching and started screeching loudly audibly as well. All the men flinched and hurried faster.

“Great, good job,” one of the others yelled over Steve screaming in the most ear-piercing way he could.

Steve was put in some sort of gross communal shower. He turned it on nice and hot and sat under it, letting it hit his back.

They eventually put him in some sort of large Plexiglas fish tank. It was empty, cylindrical, about ten feet tall and eight feet in diameter.

_You just had this tank sitting around?_ Steve asked in confusion from the tank.

“We use it to test new diving equipment.”

_Ok. It’s awful and tiny and it smells weird. I don’t belong here._

That’s how it went for three days. Steve lay on the bottom of the tank looking as despondent as possible and wailing about how he was scared and he wanted to go home. The scientists were unmoved. Steve switched tactics a little.

_Bucky’s going to come for me._

“He won’t,” one of the scientists said absently.

_He will. It’s just a matter of when. Bucky will never give up looking for me, and when he gets here you won’t like what happens. Bucky is unstoppable. If you let me go, I’ll ask him to have mercy._

“We seized you from Stark tower and we’re now holding you on suspicion of being a dangerous life form. We can do whatever we want with you and there’s nothing that your Captain can do about it. He’s not going to attack the military.”

_Clearly you don’t know anything about him. You’ll see when he gets here._

Not long after that the experiments started. They would cut him and see how long it took him to heal. There were talks of cutting him open to see his organs, but they were concerned he would die. They took lots of blood. They tried to get him to answer questions but Steve refused. So they stopped feeding him to see how long it would take for him to get to near-death. They said that he could have food when he gave them answers. Steve had never rued his inability to lie more than then.

There was a catwalk about ten feet above the opening of his tank. One of the scientists was sitting on it. No one was paying attention to him. Steve knew just what to do. He launched himself out of the water, faster than any of them had seen him move. He grabbed the ankle of the scientist and drug him down into the water. He got a grip on the man and held him in the water.

_Release me or I kill him!_ Steve shouted. The other scientists seemed to be panicking. One of them went to go get someone. The General entered the room,

“Let the man go.”

_Let me go._

“I’m not going to do that.”

_Then I’ll kill him._

“So do it.”

_If you think I’m bluffing, I’m really not._

“Neither am I. You’re worth more than he is.”

_Wow, this is the guy all of you listen to? He’s the worst leader I’ve ever seen!_

The General bristled, “You don’t know anything about my leadership abilities!”

_Any man who would sacrifice his people like this isn’t a good leader. Last chance._

“Do it or let him go.”

Steve snapped the man’s neck. Then he swam down to the bottom, dragging the body with him.

_You shouldn’t have tested me._

He removed the man’s socks, shoes, and pants.

“What the hell are you doing?” the General demanded.

_What does it look like I’m doing?_ Steve asked. Then he bit off a chunk of the man’s calf. Steve heard someone scream. The General looked disgusted.

“Sir, what should we do?” one of the scientists asked frantically.

“How long does it take to drain the tank?” he asked.

_Someone’s got to come up here to the drain pump to do that, and then I’ll have another meal._ Steve said nonchalantly, continuing to eat the scientist.

“Fuck. Fire whoever designed that!” the General shouted.

“Uh, sir, that was…” he inclined his head toward the man Steve was eating.

_Ooh, ironic._

The General scowled at Steve, “Fine, have your meal. Seal off that catwalk! No one else goes up there!” the General shouted, leaving the room. Steve smirked at the other scientists.

It didn’t take Steve long to have most of the scientist eaten. The others all were pointedly not watching. Steve gnawed at the flesh of the scientist’s throat until he could separate his head from his body. He stealthily swam to the top of the tank and hurled the head at one of the scientists. He hit him square in the back.

“Ow!” the man exclaimed, then when he saw what’d hit him he screamed and threw up.

Steve dumped the inedible organs over the side of the tank but kept the bones. He was way overfull but he kept eating. He wanted to eat as much as he could before they came up with a way to drain the tank and take his food from him. Steve hadn’t eaten in two days so naturally he was pretty hungry. He massaged his distended stomach, trying to get it to relax and fit more food. He languidly ate the marrow from the bones. He curled up and went to sleep, content in having won the day.

A week later he’d partially digested his meal and was dozing. He heard a noise above him and looked up. Someone was trying to drain the tank while he slept. He waited until they were in range and he struck, dragging them into the water. He checked to see who it was and was delighted to see that it was another one of the scientists. Steve handled him the same way he handled the first one. The other scientists seemed shocked when they came in. Steve was still working on a thigh bone.

_Your friend tried to drain the tank while I was asleep. I sleep very lightly._

Steve had never eaten so much so close together in his life. His belly was extremely swollen and heavy. He hoped that they weren’t going to try anything else because honestly Steve was pretty sure he couldn’t make the leap to grab anyone.

Steve heard a distant explosion.

_Oh, I’m thinking that’s Bucky. You all should surrender if you don’t want to get killed._

They all ran of course. Steve waited excitedly for Bucky to come get him. Finally all the Avengers minus Bruce, whom Steve could hear rampaging elsewhere, burst into the room.

“Steve! Thank fuck, you’re ok,” he said, holding out his arms. Steve swam up and dropped over the edge of the tank. Bucky caught him gently and kissed him. They quickly left the base and went back to the tower, Steve clinging to Bucky the whole way. They all sat in the common living room, Steve stretched out on the couch and Bucky under his tail. Steve was happy. He was captured but he got his revenge as best he could and now he was safe back with Bucky.

Tony was giving him a look as he sat down in the chair next to the couch.

“Steve, I wanted to ask you about something.”

_Yes?_

“When we rescued you, I saw in the tank they had you in. There were human bones in the bottom.”

Steve winced and turned away from him, burying his face in the back of the couch. _I wouldn’t answer their questions so they decided to see how long I would last without food. After two days without food I saw one of the scientists who’d been experimenting on me sitting on a catwalk above my tank. I leapt up and pulled him in. I threatened to kill him if I wasn’t released. The General wouldn’t give in so I did it. Then I ate him. There was another who tried to drain the tank so they could take me out again so I ate him too. _Steve looked back to see their reaction. Clint and Natasha didn’t look that bothered, Bruce looked surprised, Thor was nodding like he approved, and Tony looked shocked.

“Shit. So this is all human meat in here then?” Tony asked, poking his stomach. Steve scowled and slapped his hand away.

_Don’t poke me! Yes, it is._

“This isn’t the first time you’ve eaten someone, is it?” Natasha asked.

_No._

“What? Who did you eat before?”

_It doesn’t matter._

“Uh, yeah, I’d say it does,” Tony said.

_I’m sorry Bucky,_ Steve said just to Bucky.

“It’s fine Stevie. We knew they’d find out eventually.”

“What exactly is going on here?” Tony asked.

“I was eighteen the first time I killed a man,” Bucky began. Several pairs of eyes widened. “He tried to kill me but I killed him instead. It was an accident. I tossed him in the ocean and Steve saw. Steve asked if he could eat him. Steve was hungry more often than not. The man was already dead. I said yes. Steve was much healthier, he looked better. I didn’t even realize until after that just how underfed Steve was. He was always small and since his mom died hunting was difficult. I liked that Steve was happy, so I started looking around.”

“Holy shit,” Tony said quietly, apparently seeing where this was going.

“The first was a mob boss. He ran girls, and he was awful to them. They were bad people, people who hurt others. Just one or two every summer. It was about a dozen in total.”

“Oh my fucking god. You two were like cannibalistic alien 40’s Dexter!” Tony said in shock.

“Dexter?”

“It’s a TV show about a serial killer who kills criminals. It’s not that good.”

“I don’t really think we’re serial killers.”

“Really?” Tony said incredulously.

“Really. I didn’t do it because I felt some compulsion to do it. I did it for Steve. And I helped people, too. One of them was my neighbor’s husband. I think that if I hadn’t taken him in another few months he’d have killed her.”

_If you want us to leave we’ll go,_ Steve said quietly.

“We’ll go back to the ocean and never bother you again,” Bucky added.

“No, wait, don’t go casting yourselves into the sea just yet. Uh. I honestly don’t know how to react,” Tony said.

“Are you going to throw them out, Tony?” Natasha asked.

“Uh, well, I don’t even know what the right thing to do in this situation is. I- I can’t just decide this on my own. You four, what do you think?” he asked, indicating the rest of the Avengers minus Bucky.

“I’ve done a lot of bad things in my past. I’ve killed people. Some of them I regret and others I don’t. I don’t think they should be judged for that. How did you know they were guilty?” she asked Bucky.

“A lot of them I had personally witnessed doing something awful. Some I had heard stories about and I would follow them until I gathered enough evidence to know for certain.”

“It’s not that different from what we’ve been doing for SHIELD for the past decade,” Clint said.

“Yeah, but you weren’t eating them after,” Tony said.

“Well, no, but I had food to eat. I didn’t need to eat them. And, well.” He broke off and looked to Natasha. Steve thought he saw her nod slightly. “We were on a mission in the mountains. Our mission objective was to kill a human trafficker. We had already completed the mission when we realized the path was blocked. It would take weeks to hike to civilization. There was no way to get a radio signal out. There was little wildlife around and no food in the tiny cabin we were in. The body was there, so…” he shrugged.

“There are many tales of warriors who have been forced into such dire circumstances. I would judge neither Steve and Bucky nor Clint and Natasha for their actions,” Thor said.

“I don’t have any personal experience with eating people, but I know what it’s like to be hungry. I’m not going to judge them either,” Bruce said quietly.

“Ok then. It looks like we’re a pro-cannibalism household now, awesome. As for myself… I don’t think it’s wrong to want to take care of someone you love,” Tony said decisively. “On that note, I think I need a drink. Anyone else?”

“I’m good,” Bruce said.

“I’m with you Tony. Let’s get hammered,” Clint said.

“Is the reason you’re drinking invited?” Bucky asked.

“Yeah, come on. You should come too, Steve. You ever had alcohol?”

_No._

“That’s a damn shame. Come on. You in Thor?”

“Nay, I am to see my Lady Jane.”

“Next time. Natasha?”

“I’m in.”

“Cool, let’s retire to my floor.”

They all went up and Tony set it up. Steve was excited to try the alcohol. Tony gave him something he called a Strawberry Daiquiri. It was really good. Steve drank the whole thing without feeling anything.

“It’s probably all the food in your stomach absorbing the alcohol,” Bucky mused.

“Well, we’re just going to have to overcome that. Hey, Thor dropped off Asgardian liquor last time he was here, saying that it was ‘not for mortal men’ and that normal humans should only have like a shot or risk literal death. You wanna get trashed Barnes?”

“Yes, please, thank you.”

They all ended up on Tony’s couches with several bottles of alcohol. Clint and Natasha were sharing a bottle of vodka and he and Bucky had the Asgardian liquor while Tony had a glass of Scotch that he occasionally refilled. Bucky was apparently a rather handsy drunk, he was leaning on Steve and rubbing his belly, occasionally kissing his neck. Steve was feeling loose and warm and Bucky’s hands felt good. He was thrumming contentedly, a low humming sound in everyone’s minds.

“You’re beautiful Stevie,” Bucky said quietly. “I’m so lucky to have you.”

“How did I know that Barnes would be a sappy drunk?” Tony asked, rolling his eyes.

“I would have definitely thought sad or angry drunk,” Clint said.

“Hey, I resent that! ‘m not a sad or angry guy. Deep down.”

“Apparently alcohol brings out your marshmallow core,” Natasha said.

“Nah, ‘s jus Stevie. That’s what I’m thinkin’ nearly all the time I’m around him.”

Tony rolled his eyes, “That’s way too adorable.”

_Did you get injured in the fight?_ Steve asked Bucky. He couldn’t believe that he hadn’t thought to ask earlier.

“Nah, I didn’t. I don’t think. Sometimes I don’t notice.”

_Lemme check,_ Steve said, clumsily pulling at Bucky’s shirt. There was a bruise on his ribs and a small scratch on his belly. Steve leaned down to lick the scratch but he overbalanced and fell off the couch. He started laughing and everyone else laughed too. Bucky pulled him back up onto the couch and arranged them so Steve was laying on top of Bucky, his head resting on Bucky’s tummy. He laid there for a moment, listening to Bucky breathe, before he remembered his original purpose. He moved Bucky’s shirt and lazily licked at the scratch. Bucky tasted good, like always. The scientists hadn’t tasted good. Steve determined that the wound was sufficiently clean and settled back on Bucky, still thrumming contentedly. He dreamed of killing a shark and eating it. The shark tasted like scientists.

He woke up laying on something soft and warm. He smiled and nuzzled against Bucky’s belly. Bucky pulled him closer in his sleep. Steve looked around at all of their still unconscious friends. They had all accepted the darkest parts of each other. Nothing would break them apart now. Steve might be banished from his people but he wasn’t alone.


End file.
